Marian L. Skillings

Marian L. (Stanford) Skillings
SCARBOROUGH -- Marian L. (Stanford) Skillings, formerly of 193 Spurwink Rd., passed away on April 23, 2011, at Maine Veterans Home, following a 25+ year battle with Parkinson's disease. She was a resident at Maine Veteran's Home for the past 15 years.
Marian was born at home on March 18, 1923, and lived her life in Scarborough by the Spurwink River, a river she loved and enjoyed. She loved watching the tide come in under a full moon, floating with the current towards Higgins Beach in a rubber raft, and going for boat rides with her husband, Clayton. She enjoyed nature and God's beauty, and she valued honesty and hard work. To Marian these were the finer things in life.
She was a graduate of Scarborough High School and a member of the Black Point Congregational Church. In her youth, she was also a member of the Women's Auxiliary and the Women's Bowling League.
In June of 1941, she married her high school sweetheart and lifetime love, Clayton Skillings. Together they raised a beautiful family. She was a homemaker and took great pride in making this her full time job and it showed in the way she cared for her family. She was a wonderful cook. Her hermit cookies, fried clams and pies were some of her family's favorites. She loved poetry and enjoyed reciting poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and rhymes of her childhood. She was loving and caring and had a very special way with children. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were her pride and joy. She could make a simple sandwich into a picnic and a blanket into the best tent. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
She was predeceased by her parents George W. Stanford and
Marian L.
(Stanford) Skillings
Eva Belle Pierce; her husband Clayton in February of 2004; a baby daughter, Patty Louise in May 1952; two sisters, Eleanor Lorfano, Charlotte Jackson, a brother, George H. Stanford; several brothers-in-law; and her son-in-law, F. Dean DeRoche. Surviving are three sons, Clayton Jr. and his wife Susan, Larry and his wife Toni, Terry and his wife Doris, one daughter, Judith DeRoche; her sisters, Edith Danby Jordan and her husband Kenneth, Frances and her companion Randal Jordan, and her brother, Leland Stanford and his wife Joan. Her sister Edith missed very few daily visits in the 15 years; she was at the MVH. The love for her sister was unconditional. Marian (Nana) was blessed with nine granddaughters, two grandsons; five great- granddaughters and eight great-grandsons.
Thank you to the special people at MVH for the many years of loving care. Also, thank you to VNA Hospice for allowing our mother to do it her way, with grace, peace and dignity. As was said, she was driving the bus and we were just going for the ride.
There will be a visiting hour on Thursday, April 28, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., followed by a memorial service at 12 p.m., at the Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Rd., South Portland. Interment will follow at the Black Point Cemetery immediately following the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations
may be made to:
The Maine Children's
Cancer Program
100 Campus Drive
Scarborough, Maine 04074
The Maine Parkinson Society
359 Perry Rd.
Bangor, Maine 04401
or to the Scarborough
Rescue Department
246 U.S. Route 1
Scarborough, Maine 04074