Obituary of Earl Frederick Skillings

Earl Frederick (Fred) Skillings, 84, of Frankfort died June 10, 2009 peacefully at home with his family at his side and joined his beloved wife, Theresa A (Burnham) Skillings. He was born on December 3, 1924 in Scarborough, Maine, by his loving parents Lewelmer and Elsie (Townsend) Skillings. Dad was always there to help out his family in difficult times. He left school at the age of 16 to go to work in order to help support his family. He proudly served his country aboard the USS Midway during World War II as a Seaman 1st Class and was honorably discharged on February 28, 1946. He re-enlisted in the Navy reserve and was honorably discharged on June 5, 1951. Dad married his longtime sweetheart, Theresa on August 23, 1947. They had 10 children. He devoted his whole life to his growing family. He was a farmer, lobsterman and drove truck for H & B Trucking when he moved to the Payne Road in Scarborough. In 1959, he accepted a truck driver position at Sanborn’s Motor Express in South Portland. After retiring from Sanborn’s in 1974 he and his family moved to Frankfort where they raised farm animals and vegetables on their farm. He enjoyed traveling on many day trips in and out of the State with his “Cupcake”. The ocean was always calling him back, so as a hobby he returned to his lobstering talent in 1986 until the summer of 2007. Fred and Theresa were married for 58 wonderful years until her death on July 15, 2005. Dad, you were so gentle and loving. How we loved to see you come home from work. Every night someone would call out, “Daddy’s home” and no matter what we were doing we would drop everything and run to him. No matter how tired, he always had the time to make us feel special. How we loved to win at unlacing his work boots. We would race to see who could pull them off the fastest and depending on “him”; the other would have the difficult task of pulling the other boot off. You always had a way Dad of taking away our sadness and putting a smile on our face with your humor. Your talent in lobstering showed us what true work was really all about. We are so proud of how you followed your dreams and had overcome struggles in life. It made you into that special Dad so many long to have. How you loved each and every Grandchild, no matter if you saw them everyday or once in a while, your love showed through your eyes. Dad, you were so very precious to each and every one of us and there is no other man on earth that could ever take your place. We were truly blessed that God saw just how special you were going to be and sent you to us to be our Dad. We all love you and will miss you so much. Fred was predeceased by his wife, Theresa, a son Jesse Earl Skillings, former daughter-in-law Margaret (Seekins) Skillings, 4 brothers; Russell, Harry, Walter, and Norman Skillings, 3 sisters; Helen Verge, Lillian Clements, and Emily Auger and two son-in-law’s, Roger Neault and Paul Jameson. Fred is survived by four sons, Gene Skillings and wife Jeanne of Saco, Roy Skillings and wife Donna of Buxton, Glen Skillings and wife Christine of Frankfort, Jon Skillings and Lisa Howie of Frankfort; five daughters; Ruth Skillings and John Grillo of Norwich, CT, Rita and David Darveau of Whitefield, Ruby Skillings and Lauraine Bernier of Augusta, Judy Jameson and Mike Sivik of Old Town and Jill Skillings and Ray Beaulieu of Calais; 24 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 14th, at Crabiel~Riposta Funeral Home, 182 Waldo Ave, Belfast. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 611 Main St (RT 1), So Portland at 1:00 pm. on Monday June 15, 2009. Following the mass a graveside Military service will be held at the New Calvary Cemetery in So Portland. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to H.O.M.E., Attn: Sister Lucy Poulin, PO Box 10, Orland, Me 04472. Online condolences may be made at www.crabielripostafuneralhome.com