Colbeth, his wife Sandy, and their dog "Tank," are settled in to their new home in Prairie City. Left, Colbeth demonstrates "Cane Fu," a no-contact method of self defense he will teach at the John Day Senior Center starting Nov. 3.

PRAIRIE CITY – “You name it, I’ve done it.”

As Richie Colbeth starts recounting his past careers, hobbies and other accomplishments, it’s hard to think of something not on the list.

From skydiver to chaplain to airport security screener to “Cane-Fu” instructor, Colbeth indeed seems to be packing in more than one lifetime’s worth of experiences.

And yes, that’s “Cane-Fu.”

Colbeth, a local minister, and his wife Sandy, a 1965 Grant Union High School graduate, moved to Prairie City from Vancouver, Wash., in mid-October. They made the move mainly to help care for Sandy’s widowed father, Ennis Harrison, who lives in John Day.

One of the activities that Colbeth has recently taken on again is skydiving.

He made his first jump about 40 years ago at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. A bumper sticker about skydiving “turned me on to it.,” he said.

Then about five years ago, he “got the bug” to jump again, which he did, in Molalla, on his birthday.

Colbeth decided to make it an annual event, every July 21, and is all set for next year’s plunge, probably in Madras, when he turns 72.

On one particularly memorable jump near Mt. Hood, he went into a spin after his instructor bumped into him at 13,000 feet.

According to Colbeth, it felt like being inside a washing machine.

“Things got pretty hairy and I became disoriented,” he added.

He ended up landing in a pile of wood.

Which pretty much explains Sandy’s curt and ready response when asked if she’s ever considered skydiving: “No.”

“One wrong move and you’re done, splattered all over,” she said.

She prefers watching and waiting for her husband from below, which she admitted is terrifying enough.

Even Colbeth himself jokingly advises anyone considering it, “Don’t do it.”

But he added that it’s not the jumping that’s tough.

“The hard part is landing.”

His plateful of life experiences is like a TV infomercial: “But wait, there’s more.”

Highlights from his past include:

? Truckstop ministry at the Jubitz Truckstop in Portland for about 12 years

? School bus driver in Portland, also for 12 years

? Airport security screener at PDX 2001-2002 (among the notables he screened were Bob Dole and Prince)

? Volunteer with the Washington State Patrol and the Vancouver, Wash. Police Department.

He even had a brief stint as a cowboy in Lodge Grass, Mont., around 1960. He ended up there when his truck broke down on the way back from Alaska. He fibbed a bit about his horse riding abilities, earned enough money to fix his truck and continued on.

Colbeth also flew Cessna 150s and ultralight airplanes in the 1970s. And during a period of depression in early 1987, in his late 40s, he backpacked about 200 miles from Phoenix to Parker, Ariz.

Upset and out-of-shape when he set out on that trek, he said he was in good health and a more positive frame of mind and spirit at the end.

“I like to face my fears,” Colbeth said, adding that they are the motive behind many of his careers and experiences. A near-drowning at age 10 prompted him to later become a lifeguard; he decided to keep a pet tarantula for awhile to help overcome a fear of spiders; and his fear of heights sparked the plane activities.

Here in Grant County, he’s hitting the ground running, eager to teach chess at the Grant County Library and “Cane-Fu” to senior citizens. The latter starts up Tuesday, Nov. 3, at the John Day Senior Center.

Colbeth, who’s been “saved for 30 years,” also heads up Cowboy Chapel from 6-7 p.m. every Sunday and Wednesday at Bible Way Community Church. For information, call him at 541-620-4255.

For Sandy, the move back “home” was a little bittersweet. Leaving longtime friends and coworkers in Vancouver, where she had been a certified nursing assistant intermediate the past 22 years, was very difficult.

But concerns for her father’s health and safety the past few years left them little choice. She added that everyone has been very welcoming and helpful here. Even the Prairie City School football team lent their physical support, emptying the moving truck in short order when the Colbeths moved in to their new home on Oct. 1.

The Colbeths will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary Nov. 7, both agreeing that the years together have been “blissful” and “wonderful.”

The celebration however, is not likely to include a dual skydiving jump.