CW4 (Retired) John P. Sklaney Jr.

CW4 (Retired) John P. Sklaney Jr., 70, of Lawton, Okla., passed away Sunday, July 16, 2017 after a courageous battle with plueral mesothelioma.

He was born in Luzerne County to John Sklaney Sr. and Claire Sklaney. He married Susan Yacuboski of Glen Lyon on June 25, 1966.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army and he served during the Vietnam War with the 1st Cavalry Division.

He returned home from the Vietnam War and decided to make a career out of the Army, bettering both himself and his family. He became a warrant officer in the 1970s, specializing in nuclear power generation and was a qualified nuclear power plant shift operator before the U.S. Army closed down its nuclear power plants in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He also served in the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991 with the 299th Engineer Battalion, where his unit supported the 24th Infantry Division.

He perfected his hunting techniques during his three tours at Fort Greely, Ala., where he was able to hunt grizzly and brown bears, moose, caribou, mountain goats, Dall sheep, geese, ducks and other small game. He was also an avid fisherman and loved to pass on that knowledge to anyone that he met during his hunting or fishing trips.

He especially loved hunting and fishing with his grandchildren, taking them on numerous hunting and fishing trips. His greatest joy was seeing the excitement in his grandchildrens' eyes during their time spent together hunting and fishing.

He worked at Goodyear Tire Company in Lawton, Okla., for more than 16 years, before retiring a second time. At his retirement, the human resource manager commented on how, even though he had only worked at Goodyear for a little more than a decade and a half, he had accrued more than 34 years of work time, with all of his overtime calculated into his retirement.

Survivors include his wife, Susan Sklaney, Lawton, Okla.; his daughter Kim and her husband, Wes Seaton, Madison, Ala.; his son, John and his wife, Natalie Sklaney III, Norman, Okla.; his three grandsons, Nicholas Landreth, Joey Sklaney and Jared Sklaney; his two granddaughters, Abigail Seaton and Haley Seaton; his wife's sisters, Margaret and her husband, Ronald Womelsdorf, Sheatown; and Doreen Malott, Yorkana; John's sisters, Fran Ryan, Edwardsville; and Dolores and her husband, Tommy Bogacki, Wilkes-Barre.

He was preceded in death by his parents John and Claire Sklaney, his brother Jimmy Sklaney and also his wife Susan's parents John and Tekla Yacuboski.

Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday, with Deacon David Bunch, Holy Family Catholic Church officiating, at Becker-Rabon Funeral Home in Lawton.

Burial with full military honors will be at the Fort Sill National Cemetery in Elgin, Okla.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation or the Wounded Warrior Project.

A guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com.