BRUNSWICK — Elizabeth K. “Betty” Skillings, 92, died Nov. 26 at Mere Point Nursing Home in Brunswick.

On May 23, 1917, she was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., the daughter of Edward James Kroegher and Mabel Eccles Conway Kroegher and attended local schools.

In 1939 she graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Penn., where she majored in English literature.

During World War II she worked at the Bell Telephone Company in Pittsburgh.

When she was young, she and her extended family spent their summers on Orr’s Island, where she met her future husband, William Sinnett Skillings of Bailey Island.

They married in San Francisco in 1944 and lived in a quonset hut in San Diego while he was stationed in the Navy.

In 1945 they moved to Bailey Island where she raised four children. During that time, she also taught for many years as a substitute teacher in the Harpswell Islands, Brunswick and Topsham school systems.

After her children were grown, she worked at the Brunswick Savings Bank for several years, the Bailey Island General Store and later at Bath Memorial Hospital.

She was a regular and active member of the Bailey Island Union Methodist Church, the Business and Professional Women’s Association in Brunswick and the 50+ Club.

An avid gardener, she kept her own vegetable and flower garden for many years.

She enjoyed gatherings with her circle of close friends, who would meet in the summer for cocktails on her deck overlooking Lowell’s Cove on Bailey Island.

The view of Casco Bay from her home was one of her great loves, and there was always a pair of binoculars on hand for watching boats, seals and porpoises.

In 2002 she moved to the Thornton Oaks retirement community where she continued to be active.

She was predeceased by a granddaughter, Dana Khaffaf.

She is survived by her four children, Margaret Skillings Khaffaf of Kleve, Germany; Edward James and Lois Napier Skillings of Brunswick, Robert Sinnett and Susan Skillings of Orr’s Island, and Janice Skillings-Goff and John Goff of Salem, Mass.; eight grandchildren, Hilary G. Skillings, Christopher J. Skillings, Jessica M. Skillings, Haval R. Khaffaf, Rachel A. Skillings, Sara A. Khaffaf, Emily F. Skillings and Lauren E. Goff and one great-grandson, Luca N. Liffers.

Funeral services will be held at the Bailey Island Union Church on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m., with a reception to follow at the church.

Memorial donations may be made to the Mere Point Nursing Center, 56 Baribeau Dr., Brunswick, ME 04011; or to the Bailey Island Union Church, c/o Willing Helpers, Inc., P.O. BOX 233, Bailey Island, ME, 04003-0233.

 

Skillings