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Keystone
Elsie Skinner is remembered for having ''very definite ideas about a lot of things: the environment, transportation issues, water.''
By JOSH ZIMMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 16, 2003
KEYSTONE -- People like Elsie Skinner always leave an impression.
Friends are remembering a funny, hard-headed woman who, despite decades of poor health, was a longtime community leader. Mrs. Skinner, 77, died Feb. 28 at her home off Brown Road.
"She was not afraid to take a position and she cared about the whole area, not just about herself," said Lutz community activist Gaye Townsend, who worked closely with Mrs. Skinner on a variety of water and development issues. "Plain-spoken but smart. There should be more like her."
Many acquaintances, including Townsend, were surprised by her passing. No obituary appeared in local newspapers. It took last-minute phone calls, and the involvement of Keystone United Methodist Church pastor Bob Wooten, to cobble together a weekday funeral ceremony several days later, Joan Henderson, an acquaintance, said.
Despite having lupus and caring for a paraplegic husband, she managed to serve as president of the Keystone Civic Association and as an officer with American Legion Auxiliary 147. She also was involved with the local chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons.
Mrs. Skinner lost Bud Skinner, her husband of more than 50 years, several years ago. One of her three sisters, Nancy Weed, said she does not know where Mrs. Skinner was born. The family moved around a lot, she said. There were two brothers.
Mrs. Skinner graduated from high school in Dunkirk, N.Y., and married a Marine at a very young age, Weed said. He died at Iwo Jima, she said.
She wed Bud Skinner shortly after the war, Weed said. He developed paralysis after his military service. Mrs. Skinner eventually convinced the military that his paralysis resulted from close contact with toxic chemicals while working at landing strips in the South Pacific. From that point on, the military provided Mrs. Skinner with benefits that allowed them to survive, Weed said.
Mrs. Skinner started taking steroids for her lupus, a blood disorder that attacks health tissues and organs, and suffered many side effects in the process. But they helped keep her alive, Weed said.
"It's just amazing they lived as long as they did," said Weed.
With other activists, such as Townsend, Mrs. Skinner took a strong stand against unchecked development in rural Northwest Hillsborough County.
"When she got the bit in her teeth she was off or running," said Robert Davis, a former civic association president who spoke at her funeral. "Right or wrong, she had very definite ideas about a lot of things: the environment, transportation issues, water."
The Skinners lived near the Brooker Creek Headwaters Preserve and were proud of it, said Lisa LeMay, the couple's longtime housekeeper. On their 10-acre tract, Mrs. Skinner raised top-quality quarterhorses and Balinese cats, which they sold to supplement their income, she said.
According to friends, the Skinners had three children.
As her death sinks in, LeMay still talks about Mrs. Skinner in the present tense. Mrs. Skinner was cremated.
"She'll always be right here," LeMay said.
-- Josh Zimmer covers Keystone/Odessa, Citrus Park and the environment. He can be reached at 269-5314 or zimmer@sptimes.com