Henry Albert Skidgel

Henry Albert ìAbî Skidgel was born June 21, 1917 in Glencoe, Oklahoma. He was the son of Roy and Elsie (Patterson) Skidgel. Ab was raised and attended school in the Glencoe area.

In the spring of 1936, he met Hazel L. Hallum at a party in the Star A Star Community. After a short separation while Ab went to California, the couple was married on November 11, 1937 in Stillwater, Oklahoma by eloping from a cotton patch where they where working together. They made their initial home on a farm near Glencoe and all four children, Delores, Nancy, Barbara and Wesley were born in the area. During their time in Glencoe, Ab was inducted into the service of his country in the United States Army, serving nearly fifteen months during World War II.

The Skidgel family moved to Cleveland in 1952 when Ab accepted employment with the Indian Electric Cooperative. He worked nearly thirty years as an electrician and lineman and then in the last few years of his employment as a meter reader and repairman. Shortly after their arrival in the Cleveland area, Ab and Hazel joined the First Baptist Church where they where actively involved. In the early 1960ís, the couple helped to establish a new church in the area, Westport Baptist Church with the opening of Keystone Lake.

After Ab's retirement from the IEC, the couple traveled extensively as Campers on Mission. Through this mission effort, Ab and Hazel assisted in the building of new churches all over the United States including, Arkansas, Oregon, California, Kansas, Texas South Dakota. Additionally, they traveled with the Campers on Mission to Canada and Haiti. In 1999, the couple transferred their membership to the Western Heights Baptist Church in Cleveland where they continued to be actively involved.

Ab and Hazel were also avid bowlers and participated together in the Senior Bowling League in Cushing. Hazel preceded him in death on April 19, 2003. Ab liked horseshoes, playing pool and also enjoyed fishing; he was in New Mexico camping and fishing recently on the Red River when he became ill and had to return to Oklahoma.

As a young man he was an avid baseball player and continued to watch baseball throughout his life; he also enjoyed wood working and had a shop in his basement. One of his favorite pastimes was gardening, planting and and picking strawberries; and also raising tomatoes. He was known throughout the area as an honest and fine christian man who was a devoted husband and father.

Henry Albert Skidgel passed away on Monday, October 16, 2006 at the Cimarron Pointe Care Center in Mannford at the age of eighty-nine years, three months and twenty-five days. In addition to his wife of sixty-six years, Hazel, Ab was preceeded in death by his parents; four brothers, Lee, Everette, Herb and Bill; daughter, Delores; two grandsons, Brad and Cole Cook; and a great-granddaughter, Hayley Benzler.

He is survived by two daughters and their husbands, Nancy A. and Leroy Wooley, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma and Barbara (Bobby) and Darrel (Bud) Hamil of Mannford, Oklahoma; son and his wife, Wesley and Mary Skidgel of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma;
eight grandchildren; nineteen greatgrandchildren; one great greatgranddaughter; three sisters, Hazel and Marvin Hickman of Stockton, California, Mae Pogue of Las Cruzes, New Mexico and Jane and Merle Moffitt of Jenks, Oklahoma; and a special friend, Helen Hickman of Kellyville, Oklahoma.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm, Thursday, October 19, 2006 at the Western Heights Baptist Church in Cleveland with Rev. David Head officiating. Burial will be at the Woodland Cemetery under the direction of the Chapman-Black Funeral Home.