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Louis was an
athletic youngster, competitive swimming, football and athletics.
He represented New South Wales in Rugby League. He joined 1
Commando Company in 1956. His first jump was at Salt Ash, near
Newcastle as a paratrooper in March 1959.
He formed Sydney
Skydivers in 1960 but became interested in competition jumping and was unable
to afford the time to develop it. In 1962 he reformed Sydney
Skydivers and was elected President and Chief Instructor. Sydney
Skydivers has remained an integral part of sport parachuting in the Sydney
area ever since.
Louis
was a competitor in the following parachuting competitions
:
1960 Australian Championships - Pakenham, Victoria
1961 New South Wales Championships -
Orange, New South Wales?
1962 Australian Championships - Pokolbin, New South
Wales
During the
formation and early development of the Australian Parachute Federation, Louis
spent considerable time working with Claude Gillard to set the APF on the
course to become the outstanding organisation it is today. He
traveled to Melbourne on occasions like initiating the APF Parachutist
Licensing structure. There was good deal of research involved in
checking each applicants jump dates to ensure that the early licence numbers
truly represented the order in which they were earned.
Louis was
elected Secretary of the NSW Parachute Council in March 1963 and Treasurer of
the APF in April 1963. He left Australia to seek his fortune in
England in 1964. While there he worked as an accountant with Gilbey's
Distillery and in 19?? he returned to Australia in Gilbey's employ and
eventually became Company Secretary of the Australian company.
In 1988, Louis
returned from his morning run and died of a heart attack in the shower.
Parachuting lost one of its dedicated participants and the loss was felt by
all who had come to see Louis as an integral part of Australian sport
parachuting.
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