Fannie Skelton Arnold

Fannie Skelton Arnold peacefully left us in the early morning hours of June 22, 2023. She was born in Church Hill, TN on July 5, 1925, the third child and second daughter of Ethel Baily Skelton and Charles Alfred Skelton. Many called her Fan or FanFan.
While a student at Church Hill High School she was captain of the girls' basketball team. Many of the boys went off to serve in World War 2, making her 1943 graduation class rather small. By the time graduation came around she had agreed to take some classes over the summer to prepare her for a job with Holston Ordinance in Kingsport.
Fannie accepted an opportunity to transfer to Oak Ridge in 1945 and then spent most of her career working at Y-12. After pausing her career to raise her daughters, she returned to Y-12 in the late 1960s and retired in 1994 with 33 years of service.
Fannie is preceded in death by her husband, Kyle C Arnold, both her parents, Charles Alfred Skelton and Ethel Bailey Skelton; all her siblings - Myrtle, Homer, Georgia, Delmas, Eddie, Wanda, and Ron; and nieces and nephews - Tony, Cathy, Judy, Patsy, Henry, and Rick.
Her survivors include her daughters Kathryn Arnold and Peggy Arnold, and Peggy's husband, Russell Waters as well as her stepson Lance Arnold, his wife Sarah Arnold and their three sons Chuck and his children Rachael and Cole; Kevin and his wife Donna Jeanne and children Katherine, Andrew, and Matthew; and Chris. Survivors also include nieces and nephews: Jimmie, Elaine, Sherrell, Ed, Wayne, Jennifer, Johnny, Joan, Stephanie, Greg, Vim, Ron, Cody, and several great nieces and great nephews.
Fannie enjoyed a good laugh, especially with her siblings. She and her daughter Kathryn shared a similar sense of humor leading to many shared fits of giggles.
She loved growing things in her garden and was often found coaxing life from sad plant cases she rescued. Fannie hated parting with unruly plants as she found it much more fun to tame them to add to her garden beds or gift to others. She took much pride in her lawn and garden, setting the bar for her much younger friends and neighbors, who gently complained about how they couldn't keep up with her. If you ever wanted to find Fannie, she was most likely working in her garden.
She was known for being thrifty and would remodel clothing to get a bit more life from pieces she loved. She hated throwing anything away, causing her daughters and caregivers to resort to stealth tactics to get all those yoghurt containers into the recycling bins. Somehow, she managed to ensure her daughters shared this trait.
Working on the newspaper's crossword puzzles provided a daily challenge for many years as well as a very well-worn crossword puzzle dictionary.
Fannie appreciated travel. Her trips included family vacations with Kyle and their daughters to Florida, Washington, DC, and Williamsburg, VA, and later trips without the children to Hawaii, the West Coast, and throughout the closer states. She and Kathryn enjoyed an extended trip through Europe and later visited Peggy in London several times. The three also enjoyed a trip together to Israel and Jordan. Fannie and Kathryn enjoyed visiting Peggy and Russ in Greece.
We will miss her greatly.
Family will receive friends 5-7pm Tuesday at Click Funeral Home Farragut Chapel with a service to follow at 7pm. Graveside service will be 11am Wednesday at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.