Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 5 – Switching Parties, Moving to Salt Lake City, Middletown and Crystal Lake Copy

Earlier segments of this biography of my father can be found below on McHenry County Blog. In 1952, my youngest sister Ellen was born. That was also the year Dad switched his registration from the Democratic Party to the Republican … 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

Message of the Day – Hands

My Grandmother Addie Watling-Skinner had a glass replication of Durer’s praying hands on her coffee table. My cousin has them now. Nothing expensive, but they probably had more significance than I realized as a youth. Today is a day that … Continue reading

Memories of Attending a Segregated School in Easton, Maryland – Part 1

I got into a conversation at the First United Methodist Church about Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad heroine from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, from when my family and I come. It bought back all sorts of memories of walking … 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

A Letter to Alexandra from Great-Grandmother Addie Watling-Skinner

My niece Sarah, now in an artist’s residency in Priarietown, Massachusetts, sent me a letter she found from my grandmother Addie Watling-Skinner last month. Amazingly enough, the letter was addressed to my daughter Alexandra, 28 years old today. You can … Continue reading

Biography of Cal Skinner, Sr. – Part 5 – Switching Parties, Moving to Salt Lake City, Middletown and Crystal Lake

Earlier segments of this biography of my father can be found below on McHenry County Blog. In 1952, my youngest sister Ellen was born. That was also the year Dad switched his registration from the Democratic Party to the Republican … Continue reading

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

The first part of my father’s multi-part biography ran yesterday. Today, Father’s Day, we’ll Dad graduated debt free from college in three and a half years. Somehow I have gotten the impression that he was something of a lady’s man. … Continue reading