Family remembers BASE jumping victim, calls death a life lived fully

SALT LAKE CITY — The family of a man killed in a tandem BASE jumping accident in Moab said they are grieving his loss while finding comfort in knowing he died doing what he loved.

Danny Kregle, a 68-year-old Arizona businessman, died Sunday while attached to professional guide Andy Lewis during a jump near Moab. Authorities had initially reported his age as 50. Kregle's wife and two daughters said they are not angry about the accident and do not plan to pursue legal action, saying that would not reflect who he was.

"People are saying sue," Kregle's wife, Kelley, said. "That's ridiculous. He would never do that. We would never do that."

Kregle's daughter, Mallory Joe, said she feels peace about how things ended, but they are grieving because his death was premature.

"These moments are so tragic, and it's such a huge loss, but there is this sense of peace, being like, when you pass doing something that's exhilarating to you, I think can be a lovely thing," Joe said. "It doesn't feel lovely right now."

Kregle, described by family as an adrenaline seeker and mentor, often called himself "The Phenom," a nickname Kelley Kregle said fit his larger-than-life personality.

"Danny was fireworks," Kelley Kregle said. "He's my high school sweetheart, and we were married for 43 years last December, and it's just been a roller coaster of a life."

He was an HVAC contractor and opened a gym in downtown Mesa, Arizona, a nonprofit focused on helping inner-city children. Kelley Kregle said one of those kids has gone on to become a professional boxer.

Joe said her father also had extensive skydiving experience, with more than 100 solo jumps. He was also a racecar driver and angler. The tandem BASE jump had been a longtime goal.

Joe found well-known guide Andy Lewis' company, BASE Jump Moab, years ago.

"He happened to be going to Utah for my cousin's wedding with my uncle, and he's like, 'I'm going to do it,' and I was so mad," Joe said. "'You're going to do this without me?"

His eldest daughter, Jennifer Corwin, said her father sent a final message before the jump.

"Last text he wrote was to me and Mallory telling us that he's jumping at 7 a.m.," Corwin said. They never heard back.

Corwin said his death has been especially difficult for her daughter, who was close to him.

"My mom and dad are a big part of my daughter's life," she said. "They help me through everything … I'm really glad that I gave my dad a granddaughter."

Kelley Kregle agreed that the two shared a special bond.

"My biggest grief, honestly, he loved his granddaughter so much," she said. "The sun revolved around her."

Despite the loss, Kelley Kregle takes comfort in a photo taken shortly before his final jump, showing him standing on a cliff wearing sunglasses and pointing skyward.

"He's pointing to the heavens, and the sun rays are peeking through the clouds like they're creating a pathway for him," Kelley Kregle said. "Danny was very spiritual. And then yesterday, I got a photograph from our backyard in Arizona, right behind our house, a little rainbow with a cloud that looks exactly like a dove right out our door."

The Kregles said they're very sorry to Andy Lewis' family, too.

"He dove with someone who is a legend," Corwin said. "And he was a legend, too."

Joe said she feels peace knowing her dad lived his life to the fullest. She thinks she may come to Utah in the future to find healing.

"I think my mom and my sister and my husband will probably freak out when we go to Moab one day, and I'm like, I'm still going to jump off this rock, because I can only imagine that I will," she said. "It's just those things that light you up, that make you feel alive."

Authorities in Grand County have not released details about what caused the accident.

Michelle Strong spoke with KSL on behalf of her daughter, a former BASE jumper and a member of the search and rescue party that responded to Lewis' death on Sunday.

"It's impacted her, mentally. How could it not?" she said.

Strong went BASE jumping with a different company in Moab a few years ago; she said she was terrified as she stood on the cliff, but the jump was incredible. "The chute opened, and it's this, like, overwhelming emotion of, like, aliveness. And I think that's the that's the key emotion to base jumping. Right? You feel so alive in that moment."

Through her daughter, Strong has gotten to know the community of BASE jumpers in Moab. "They are some of the kindest, smartest, most caring people I've ever met," she said.

She says she's been disappointed by some people's callous reactions online to Lewis' and Kregle's deaths.

"We don't get to choose other people's lives. We really don't. We get to choose our own. And, we just have to respect what other people choose for themselves. As hard as that can be," she said.

Related topics