Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 10 – Unsuccessful County Clerk Try, County Airport Fight, Wife’s Death

When Vernon Kays retired from being County Clerk, Dad ran for the office against Vernon’s Chief Deputy Rosemary Azzaro. Rosemary won, even winning at least one Crystal Lake Coventry precinct in which she knocked on doors. Dad didn’t do any … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 4 – Sewer Grates, Miles River Yacht Club, Slot Machines, Chesapeake Bay Bridge

This is the fourth in a serialization of my father’s biography. Previous parts can be found below on McHenry County Blog. One of Dad’s inspirations for running for office involved an unresponsive city government. Plunk, plunk, plunk. I can hear … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 3 – First House, Elected President of the Easton, Maryland, Town Council

Previous parts of this biography can be found below on McHenry County Blog. I am running them again because my father would have been 105 on June 8th, if he hadn’t been a smoker. (His mother lived to be 96.) … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 10 – Unsuccessful County Clerk Try, County Airport Fight, Wife’s Death Copy

When Vernon Kays retired from being County Clerk, Dad ran for the office against Vernon’s Chief Deputy Rosemary Azzaro. Rosemary won, even winning at least one Crystal Lake Coventry precinct in which she knocked on doors. Dad didn’t do any … Continue reading

Biography of Cal L Skinner – Part 9 – Responsible Republicans’ Slate, County Board Reapportionment Copy

Prior to the 1972 elections, the United States Supreme Court ruled that legislative bodies like the McHenry County Board and city councils had to be apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis. The county board divided the county into three districts, … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 4 – Sewer Grates, Miles River Yacht Club, Slot Machines, Chesapeake Bay Bridge Copy

This is the fourth in a serialization of my father’s biography. Previous parts can be found below on McHenry County Blog. One of Dad’s inspirations for running for office involved an unresponsive city government. Plunk, plunk, plunk. I can hear … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 3 – First House, Elected President of the Easton, Maryland, Town Council Copy

Previous parts of this biography can be found below on McHenry County Blog. I am running them again because my father would have been 100 on June 8th, if he hadn’t been a smoker. (His mother lived to be 96.) … Continue reading

Biography of Calvin L. Skinner – Part 2 – College, Marriage, First Jobs Copy

The first part of my father’s multi-part biography ran yesterday. Today, we’ll run Part 2 in honor of his birth 100 years ago. Dad graduated debt free from college in three and a half years. Somehow I have gotten the … Continue reading

Biography of Calvin L Skinner – Part 1 – Second Son, School Years Copy

My father would have been 100 years old todeay and it seems appropriate to run my articles on him again. There are lots of parts. Calvin LeRoy Skinner was born in Wilmington, Delaware June 8, 1916, the second son of … Continue reading

Message of the Day – A Valentine

I finally opened a Lowney’s Fruit & Nut Chocolates box that contained Valentines and Christmas Cards that I thought my grandmother Addie Watling-Skinner had saved. Upon closer inspection, I discovered my mother, Eleanor Stevens Skinner, had save the contents. I … Continue reading

McHenry County Health Department Warns of Rabid Bats

They’re back. The rabid bats, I mean. I first got interested with rabid bats when the McHenry County Health Department used them as an excuse to try to impose what I came to call the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax. … Continue reading

Message of the Day – Forever

Think this license plate refers to the intention of its owners to stay married? It says, FOREVER Today is the anniversary of my parents’ wedding on July 31, 1938. There’s the happy couple. When I clicked on the wedding certificate, … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 10 – Unsuccessful County Clerk Try, County Airport Fight, Wife’s Death

When Vernon Kays retired from being County Clerk, Dad ran for the office against Vernon’s Chief Deputy Rosemary Azzaro. Rosemary won, even winning at least one Crystal Lake Coventry precinct in which she knocked on doors. Dad didn’t do any … Continue reading

Biography of Cal L Skinner – Part 9 – Responsible Republicans’ Slate, County Board Reapportionment

Prior to the 1972 elections, the United States Supreme Court ruled that legislative bodies like the McHenry County Board and city councils had to be apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis. The county board divided the county into three districts, … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 4 – Sewer Grates, Miles River Yacht Club, Slot Machines, Chesapeake Bay Bridge

This is the fourth in a serialization of my father’s biography. Previous parts can be found below on McHenry County Blog. One of Dad’s inspirations for running for office involved an unresponsive city government. Plunk, plunk, plunk. I can hear … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 3 – First House, Elected President of the Easton, Maryland, Town Council

Previous parts of this biography can be found below on McHenry County Blog. The night I was born, June 11, 1942, my father and his Methodist minister friend Charles (Charlie) Jarvis, who baptized all three kids and, having moved to … Continue reading