Helen E. Skinner
June 29, 1947 - February 12, 2011
Hampton Union, Tuesday, February 15, 2011
[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]
HAMPTON -- Helen Elizabeth Skinner, 63, died Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House in Haverhill, Mass.
She was born June 29, 1947, in Marion, Ohio, the daughter of the late Alphonse and Lucy (Moore) Lavalley, one of seven children. She was raised in Marion and Grand Rapids, Mich.
She attended Aquinas College in Grand Rapids.
Mrs. Skinner was the assistant librarian at Brown Library in Seabrook and Lane Library in Hampton and was also employed at Nature's Outpost in North Hampton for a time.She is survived by her husband of 39 years, Mitchell Skinner of Hampton; three sisters, Suzanne Russell and her husband Gayle of Collierville, Tenn., Margaret Lavalley of Royal Oak, Mich., and Mary Williamson of Waco, Texas; several nieces and nephews; and many special friends.
She was predeceased by one brother, Gregory Lavalley, and two sisters, Linda Sonerndike and Lois Bowen.
WE REMEMBER: She met the love of her life, Mitchell Skinner, while he was still in the Air Force, and they were married in 1971 on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M. They moved to the New England Seacoast in 1974 and eventually settled in Hampton.
She enjoyed kayaking, sailing and being outdoors. She and her husband spent many hours hiking and backpack-camping together, often in isolated places with no other human beings for miles. She loved animals and nature, especially her many rescued cocker spaniels and her special cockatiel, Sydney.
She particularly loved her times at her house on Thompson Lake in Otisville, Maine.
SERVICES: Relatives and friends may visit Saturday, Feb. 19, from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Remick & Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory, 811 Lafayette Road, Hampton.
A celebration of life service will follow the visitation at 11 a.m. in the funeral home.