Mayor to parachute despite lifelong fear of flying

Shawn Kennington agreed to jump out of a perfectly good airplane for the good of his hometown.

And that’s saying a lot because the man who has been mayor of Pittsburg for 13 years has an intense fear of flying that goes back as far as he can remember.

“I don’t know why I don’t like to fly. I can’t fly. The good Lord didn’t give me wings. He gave me legs, so I walk or drive,” Kennington said when he stopped by The Gazette recently to talk about how he got roped into being one of the skydivers for the upcoming Parachute Bingo game at the Chamber-sponsored Tri-County Independence Day Blast.

Kennington has known the skydiving team from Gladewater’s Skydive East Texas for years and has been asked many times if he’d be willing to make the jump at the annual event.

“It’s been talked about for years to promote ticket sales and to help keep it funded,” said Kennington, who donated out of his pocket for the dive team this year. “Over the years, I have jokingly said I would do it, but I never seriously planned on doing it.”

That was before it was canceled, and the Pittsburg-Camp County Chamber stepped up to organize the fireworks show after with just six weeks to raise the money and plan the event.

“This year, with the possibility of not having the fireworks, I thought if it helped, I would do it,” he said. “I would hate to see the fireworks show not happen, but more importantly, I’d like to see it continue.”

He said the Chamber would use the money raised through the Parachute Bingo tickets as seed money for next year’s event.

Kennington has been involved with the fireworks show and the jump team for more than 20 years, even before he was mayor, serving on the City’s Centennial Committee planning the event. The patriotic weekend is also a special one for him and Pittsburg’s First Lady, Amy Kennington.

“Our wedding was on July 5, so we had the rehearsal and then had to go to the fireworks. Our oldest daughter got engaged a couple of years ago at the fireworks show, so it has a lot of personal importance,” he said.

With his engaging sense of humor, the mayor joked that if his wife and kids wanted him to do it to help save the fireworks, then he would agree to it – if all the tickets were sold - and assuming they don’t have ulterior motives.

“I don’t think my insurance has increased, but it’s all paid up,” he said laughing.

Going back to his childhood, he said he adopted his mother’s logic on flying.

“We were raised in church, and everybody always says, ‘If it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go.’ Well, my mother has always had a fear of flying, and she would say, ‘That’s probably a true statement, but if you’re on a plane and it’s one person’s time to go, do the rest of us have to go just because we’re there?’” Kennington reflected. “That was her theory, and the rest of us had to tag along.”

The theory has stayed with him over the years, and while he has flown commercially three times, it was out of necessity, and his family drives to their Florida vacation spots every year.

He plans to join the skydiving team at the Gladewater Airport on Saturday to prepare for his first skydive.

“I did explain to them that I can practice, but I’m probably a one jump mayor, so I’m not going to do a practice jump and then jump again. I told them I could practice jumping out of a chair or something,” he said.

The big moment, assuming all 2,196 bingo tickets are sold before it’s time for him to jump, will happen at approximately 8:15 p.m. shortly before the fireworks show begins at Broach Park. The bingo square that he lands on will determine the $1,000 winner. The crowd undoubtedly will be cheering for the mayor as well as the winning ticket holder.

“What a love he has for this community,” said Chamber Executive Director Christine Jackson. “How many people do you know that would offer to do something as extravagant as jump out of an airplane with a fear of flying? He’s a fantastic role model and leader of this community.”