Robert M. Skidmore

Robert M. Skidmore

January 23, 1947 - March 22, 2012

Robert M. Skidmore

January 23, 1947 - March 22, 2012

Obituary

Robert Montgomery Skidmore, 65, of Mission Viejo, Calif., passed away on March 22, 2012, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was the devoted husband of Ranice Tune Skidmore, his best friend and the love of his life. They were married for 40 years.

Robert Montgomery Skidmore was born in Decatur, Ala., on January 23, 1947. Robert grew up in Priceville, Ala., and graduated from Priceville High School in 1965. He was a 1969 graduate of the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa where he received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Robert received a master’s degree in international business management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Ariz., in 1977.

Robert was a Navy lieutenant and served on the U.S.S. Bausell during the Vietnam War. While in the Navy, he married Ranice Tune in 1971 in San Diego. Robert was a salesman. He was a sales executive for Shur-Lok Company, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., for more than 20 years, retiring in 2009. At Shur-Lok, he worked in sales in several positions, including regional sales manager and director of business development.

Robert was blessed with an outgoing personality, a sharp intellect, and a gift for storytelling. He was a steady and generous presence in the lives of his friends and family. He and his wife Ranice embraced the everyday as well as the extraordinary occasions in life. An inseparable couple, they were known to friends and family as “R & R.”

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his brother Max S. Skidmore (Barbara) of Atlanta and nephew Stephen Skidmore (Monica). On his wife’s side, he is survived by sisters-in-law, Sheryl, Diane and Lisa Tune (Mauro), brother-in-law Lee Tune (Margaret) and two nieces and a nephew. He was predeceased by his parents Marvin and Arlene Ryan Skidmore and nephew David Skidmore.

Memorial services were held on March 25 at the O’Connor Mortuary Chapel in Laguna Hills, Calif. Friends and relatives can leave remembrances at: www.oconnormortuary.com and view a video tribute to Robert at: http://lifetomotion.com/login/skidmore5988/movie/movie.html.

Those interested in making memorial contributions are requested to do so to Heifer International, an organization seeking to “end world hunger with charity gifts for sustainability and self-reliance.”
http://www.heifer.org/give/give?msource=KK1C120066

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13 responses to Robert M. Skidmore

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  1. We loved sending Robert birthday cards. He never could remember our birthday was 6 days after his. He would send the card hoping it would be on the right day. We know Robert enjoyed the Alabama “Roll Tide” t-shirts we would send before the Tennessee game. We got to send him a National Champship shirt this year. We know he would have loved getting one next year. He will be missed.

    Love,
    Janice and Joyce

  2. Robert was an awesome classmate and friend. Raince was the love of his life. Please pray for her in the coming days ahead. RIP………..

  3. Ranice, From shipmates of the USS Bausell DD845, we pass our sincere condolences. We will enter Robert’s name to our Memorial Wall on our website http://www.ussbausell.com in the near future. We will also recognize Robert at our Memorial Service in San Diego during our Ship’s reunion at the Kona Kai on Shelter Island June 16-20, 2013. Exact date and time yet to be determined but please feel free to call Eugene D’Arezzo, 928-854-2205 in Lake Havasu City. Again, so sorry for Robert’s passing from the USS Bausell Association. Gene

  4. Lee Tune says:

    This slightly adapted version of the poem Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden was read at Robert’s memorial service on behalf of his wife Ranice Tune Skidmore.
    We miss you Robert!!

    Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.
    Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
    Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
    Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

    Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
    Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead,
    Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
    Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

    He was her North, her South, her East and West,
    Her working week and her Sunday rest
    Her noon, her midnight, her talk, her song;
    They thought that love would last forever, They were wrong.

    The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
    Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
    Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
    For nothing now can ever come to any good.

  5. Lisa Tune says:

    This is the short version of a very wonderful, long story about Ranice and Robert.

    At twelve years old, they met at Priceville United Methodist Church in Priceville, AL. They went to the same High School. They were friends, but not sweethearts though Ranice always had a crush on him.

    Robert went to the University of Alabama. Ranice went to school in Colorado. They began dating over school breaks, whenever they were both back home in Alabama.

    In 1971, Robert was a leutenant JG in the Navy, stationed in San Diego on the U.S.S. Bausell.

    Over Memorial Day weekend, Robert called Ranice at 2 a.m. and said, “If you will come to California, we’ll get married.” And, she said, “Go to bed we can talk in the morning.”

    He called back two hours later at 4 a.m. and said, “I have called my mother, my brother, my aunt & uncle and your father. I told them we are getting married.” (Each and every one of them asked, “Are you drunk?” but he wasn’t.) “Now, you have to come”, he said.

    And, she said, “I’ll come,and we’ll talk about it.”

    But, as always, Robert had a plan.

    They got blood work,
    A marriage license,
    Permission from his C.O,
    A chapel and a minister.

    And they never did talk about it.

    But they did get married.

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