Chris was born March 1, 1970 in Crown Point, Indiana to Phillip and Barbara Kubacki, the fourth of five children.
He grew up with a love of music, teaching himself guitar starting around age 12. Some of the friends he met in middle school remained good friends for the rest of his life. He graduated high school in 1988 and graduated from college in 1992.
Around May 1995, Chris joined the 9th Indiana Civil War Reenactors. He was hooked immediately and remained a reenactor for the rest of his life, later joining the 1st Michigan Engineers.
Chris met his wife, Karin, at a Civil War Reenactment in July 1995, just a few months after they both started reenacting. They were married on July 10, 1999 in Deerfield, Illinois.
Chris welcomed his son into the world on April 23, 2002. This was a bit of a surprise since the child was not due until Father’s Day in late June. He was named Martin Maximillian Kubacki, and everyone called him Max.
It didn’t take long for Chris to pass along his love of history. Max never had to worry about his grades in social studies classes in school. His teachers were delighted to have a student who seemed well versed in nearly every historic time period.
Given his love of history, it was probably inevitable that Chris should begin reenacting other time periods. He started reenacting the Second World War in 2014.
Some of the World War II reenactors introduced Chris to the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team, who honor the paratroopers who served the country during the Second World War by recreating their jumps at air shows and other commemorative events.
Chris quickly developed a passion for static line jumping and a true brother to his fellow jumpers. One he completed his initial training, he became the operations office, the one responsible for writing the manifests which list who is included in each jump and what order they go out the door.
Between reenactments, Chris owned his own woodworking business, building and restoring furniture. Every Christmas, he made toys for his son and nephews and beautiful wooden gifts for all his in laws. They still treasure the candle holders, cutting boards, boxes, and many other items he made for them over the years.
When Karin was laid off from her job during the Great Recession, the whole family took up skiing. Chris loved it and skied six days a week starting on December 26, 2009 and continuing until his birthday on March 1, more than 3 months later. Every year after that, the family skied whenever there was enough snow to cover the rocks.
When there wasn’t enough snow for skiing, the family loved to hike. Not only did we explore many miles of hiking trails near our home in Illinois, but in National Parks whenever we could manage it. This photo was taken in Glacier National Park in August 2019.
Goodbye, Chris. We will miss your sense of humor, your passion for history, and your joy exploring the trails. We look forward to meeting again in Heaven where we will never again be parted.
Remembering Chris 