Dr. Ray Skaggs

Dr. Ray Hamilton Skaggs
1921-2017
Dr. Ray H. Skaggs died peacefully at home on January 23, 2017. He was born in Houston, Texas to Ray H. Skaggs, Sr. and Catherine Mickley Skaggs on November 20, 1921. His father was a doctor in the Army so Ray moved around a lot during his early years, living in San Antonio, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. After his father died in 1934, Ray, his brother Lloyd, and his mother made their home in Houston. He graduated from San Jacinto High School and Rice Institute where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an accomplishment of which he was extremely proud.
Ray received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, graduating as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. In medical school he met the love of his life, Priscilla Kringel. His fondest memories were of the two of them in Galveston at Old Red on the UTMB campus and at medical fraternity Phi Xi parties. They were married in Port Arthur in 1944.
After an internship in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ray was stationed in El Paso where he served as Captain in the Army Medical Corps. After discharge, he did a residency at Baylor College of Medicine specializing in cardiology. During this time he pioneered in the development of cardiac catheterization as a diagnostic tool.
After many years in private practice, Ray became a founding partner in The Medical Clinic of Houston. He was a fellow in The American College of Physicians, an Associate Fellow in The American College of Cardiology, and president of the Houston chapter of The American Heart Association.
He has been a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, was on the Teaching Medical Service at Methodist Hospital, and was an Adjunct Professor of Health and PE at Rice University where he was the Director of Student Health. After retirement from private practice, Ray worked for the Department of Defense doing physicals for new recruits.
Ray loved to travel and to play golf, bridge, and the stock market. He was married to Priscilla Kringel Skaggs for 68 years until her death in 2012. His brother William Lloyd Skaggs also preceded him in death in 2012. He is survived by his children Barbara Skaggs Stringer and husband Haynie, Elizabeth Skaggs Nixon and husband Rob, David Skaggs and wife Elisa, grandchildren Faith and Tim Stringer, Justin Nixon, Jennifer Nixon Marquart, Jacob and Emma Skaggs, great-grandson Josiah Marquart, and nieces and nephews.
Those who wish to make a memorial gift in Ray's name may make it to UTMB Development Office, 300 University Blvd, Galveston, TX 77555-0148 or to Rice University Development Office, P.O.Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892. The family has made private plans to celebrate his life.