For a man who spent upward of 22,000 hours aloft piloting hotair and gas balloons, sporty turboprops, military jets and helicopters, Balloon Fiesta founder Sid Cutter was down to earth.
"Sid didn't go in for the big achievements," said Jewel Cutter, Sid's wife and constant companion for the last 31 years of his life. "Some of them came to him, but he did things for the adventure and for the fun of doing them."
Sid Cutter, longtime aviator, businessman and balloonist credited with founding the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, died May 21 at his home from stomach cancer.
Many of his friends say Sid was about as ostentatious as a rock on a mesa, despite a successful career in aviation and a slew of ballooning awards and accolades.
"He wasn't about the King Airs flying for egos; he was about the biplanes flying for fun," his wife said. "He wasn't about the big yachts; he was about the fishing boats."
"He drove the same ratty old Suburban for 20 years," Jewel Cutter said at the couple's sprawling North Valley home, days before the start of the 40th Balloon Fiesta on Saturday.
It will be a memorable event, dedicated to the man who took his first balloon ride by accident and transformed a 13-balloon rally in the Coronado Center parking lot into the largest annual ballooning event in North America.
For balloonists, the name Sid Cutter is nearly synonymous with the sport. And for many airplane pilots, Cutter Aviation - the business founded here by Sid's parents in 1928 - has become a familiar stop throughout New Mexico and adjacent states.
Those close to Sid knew he flew a plane at age 10, soloed at 16, got his pilot's license at 17, flew jets and cargo planes for the Air Force and even flew helicopters before returning to the family business and serving as its president from 1963 until 1974.
Most people who know about his ballooning accomplishments have heard about how he took his first balloon ride when someone accidentally let go of a tether line while he was in the gondola.
And practically everyone in ballooning knows he won two U.S. National Balloon Championship titles, received ballooning's highest award, the Diplome Montgolfier from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, was inducted into the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame, and founded the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association and World Balloon Corp.
But there was a warm, generous and romantic side to Sid that not everyone saw, Jewel Cutter said.
"There's been so much written about Sid that everyone's heard all the stories," she said as she sorted through piles of photos and mementos spread over two billiard tables in their home - evidence of Sid's well-lived 77 years. "But I call him my memory maker."
The couple met in September 1977 at an Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension meeting, which Jewel attended to "find out what ballooning was about," she said.
"I had no idea who he was. He just had an energy about him. His eyes were blue and sparkling. Our eyes met across the room, and it was lust at first sight," she said with a warm giggle.
Though her boss told her Sid had a reputation as a playboy, she was smitten and gladly accepted Sid's invitation to dinner.
"We fell instantly in love," she said. "We dated for three years and then he asked me to marry him." It was a second marriage for both, she said, and despite Sid's being 14 years older than her, an incredibly fun and happy one.
Fortunately, their honeymoon in Las Vegas, Nev., was not a harbinger of the next three decades. While competing in a hound-andhare balloon chase, Sid fell out of the gondola about 30 feet to the ground, fracturing several ribs and puncturing his lung.
"As the ground crew rushed in to help, all Sid said was, 'Did I win?' " she said.
Sid spent about a week in the hospital with his new bride at his bedside.
The ensuing years were full of what Jewel Cutter says is the one word the best defines her late husband: Adventure.
Ballooning - and Sid's string of personal aircraft - took them all over the world.
There was the balloon race from the Caribbean island of Bimini to Florida that ended in the water when the winds died and they ran out of propane.
They once got snowed-in in Paris - a tale normally reserved for romance novels. She once lost sight of his balloon for several hours while chasing him with the ground crew in Sweden.
The couple plied the waters off the coast of Washington state in their 35-foot boat, named Sea Jewel. They went scuba diving in the Caribbean and fly-fishing in the Rockies.
More often than not, they were surrounded by friends, family and hangers-on who soon became part of their circle.
The inseparable couple even share the same May 9 birthday.
"My life was about 60 percent normal days, 10 percent bad days, and 30 percent of those days that just take your breath away," Jewel said while sitting in Sid's comfy den, decorated wall to wall with photos of friends and family, one of his oil paintings, stacks of awards and a Budweiser-themed wet bar. (Sid designed, built and flew numerous balloons and blimps for Anheuser-Busch over the years.)
"I was his partner in life," she said. "If he flew, I was his crew chief. In business, he was the boss, I was the accountant. Everywhere he went, he wanted me by his side. I was a lucky, lucky woman."
Sid's legendary generosity went far beyond ballooning. When his daughter, Cyd, died unexpectedly several years ago, he and Jewel welcomed Cyd's children, Christopher and Whitney, into their home on Cutter Corner - situated on land Sid's parents bought more than a half-century ago. Sid bought the property about 15 years ago.
"When he was a boy, Sid played in that big cottonwood tree in our yard," Jewel said.
Sid had not been feeling well for about two years before he was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer. He died about 15 months later.
Sid, Jewel and a niece, Kay Cutter, who is a cancer survivor, kept the dreaded news among themselves until it became evident that Sid's health was in a spiral.
"But the doom and gloom never set in; we wouldn't allow it," she said. True to his belief that "life was to be lived," Sid was adamant that there be no funeral or memorial service.
Instead, they threw a huge party at their home on April 24, inviting hundreds of close friends to reminisce and toast Sid with his favorite brew - an icy cold Bud.
"He was my life," she said, choking back tears. "But I have been overwhelmed by the response of others to Sid's death. He's a huge loss to me, but also to others - especially the ballooning community."
The day he died, Jewel received 855 emails "from all over the world," she said.
"His legacy is the Balloon Fiesta," she said when asked how he's likely to be remembered.
Events in his honor
The 40th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which starts Saturday and continues through Oct. 9, is dedicated to Albuquerque aviator, businessman and ballooning enthusiast Sid Cutter, known as the founder of the Balloon Fiesta. Among the events commemorating him are:
SATURDAY 6:35 a.m. - Hundreds of lighted helium balloons will be released by pilots over Balloon Fiesta Park in honor of Cutter. 6:40 a.m. - Four World Balloons will stand in a "missing man" formation in front of the main stage. 6:45 a.m. - A flight of Beechcraft Bonanzas will fly a "missing man" formation over the park during the playing of taps. 6:47 a.m. - New Mexichords will sing "Amazing Grace" to bagpipe accompaniment. 6:53 a.m. - The Ultra World balloon lifts off with an American flag during the national anthem. 7 a.m. - Mass ascension of balloons.
Saturday through Nov. 30: A special exhibit titled "Celebrating Sid" at the Anderson-Abruzzo International Balloon Museum at the southeast corner of Balloon Fiesta Park. BALLOON FIESTA 2011
Your guide to the 40th annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta can be found inside today's paper. The special section includes schedules, helpful tips, articles, a list of pilots and more. Check it out!
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