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Home / New Zealand

Kiwi thrill-seeker sent a photo to his mother moments before fatal wingsuit accident

By Laura Wiltshire
NZ Herald·
8 Oct, 2018 04:39 AM3 mins to read

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Robyn Hewetson remembers her son, Gwillym Hewetson, a thrill-seeker who died in a wingsuit accident.
The last photo Gwillym sent to his mother before he passed away. Photo / Gwillym Hewetson
The last photo Gwillym sent to his mother before he passed away. Photo / Gwillym Hewetson

Moments before a thrill-seeker jumped to his death off a Switzerland mountain, he sent an idyllic photo of the scene to his Kiwi mother.

Gwillym Hewetson's mother Robyn Hewetson said she would be framing his last photo to her as a legacy to the larger than life adventures he loved.

The 37-year-old died when something went wrong as he glided down the mountain in a wingsuit, a high-risk adrenalin activity similar to base jumping.

Robyn, who lives in Hawke's Bay, said Gwillym was adventurous from a young age.

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"He was just agile and mobile, and always if there was something to climb on, you know, he was always on it."

His sister Frith Hewetson said she remembers stories from her mother about Gwillym refusing to stay in his cradle, or trying to run out onto the road.

Gwillym Hewetson, who passed away in a wingsuiting accident in Switzerland. Photo / Supplied
Gwillym Hewetson, who passed away in a wingsuiting accident in Switzerland. Photo / Supplied

He grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, America, but moved to Hastings and went to school in Havelock North when he was 16.

Frith Hewetson said if there was one person in the world who could make her laugh it was Gwillym.

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Gwillym became a movie editor, and worked on movies with James Cameron. He spent months on a boat by the Mariana trench for the Deepsea Challenge documentary.

One day he just started sky diving, Robyn Hewetson said.

"He went from skydiving to base jumping, and from base jumping to wingsuiting."

Frith Hewetson said despite Gwillym being away so much, he was incredibly close to her two sons, Rowan and Thaeo.

"After Mum and Dad, Uncle Gwill was number one."

"He's very present in both of their lives, despite the fact they've both had less than three days with him in the last three years."

His plan was to jump until age 40, and then he was going to settle down in Melbourne and start his own company.

For Gwillym, the jumping wasn't about an adrenaline rush, it was about moments of mindfulness and peacefulness.

"He wasn't ever scared when he did it," Frith Hewetson said.

Robyn Hewetson and her son Gwillym during their last visit together. Photo / Supplied
Robyn Hewetson and her son Gwillym during their last visit together. Photo / Supplied

Robyn said her favourite memory of her son was earlier this year, when she saw him in Hawaii, where he was working as a professional skydiver.

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"On February 21st this year, we did a tandem jump."

She said there was no way she would jump out of a plane with anyone else.

After the jump, the pair sat on the beach and ate fish tacos, when Gwill said something to his mother.

"He said, 'look Ma, I know you think you're frightened, you think you are a frightened person, but I watched you, I watched up growing up, you brought us up by yourself in a foreign country'."

"He said, 'you're the bravest woman I know, you taught me to be brave'."

The time in Hawaii was the last time they saw each other.

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