Skyler Blake Waddell

Skyler Blake Waddell, age 27, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, May 30, 2024.
Born on October 25, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia, he was raised in Winder, Georgia with his brother Randy by his mother Celeste. The biological father's parental rights were voluntarily terminated. When Skyler was ten, they moved to Lawrenceville, Georgia, where he gained a step-father who raised him as his own child.
Skyler endured a lot in his short life. He had to overcome language and communication barriers, due to learning disabilities, and addiction, due to a trusted adult at school introducing him to drugs at sixteen years old. Skyler fought hard for years to overcome the battle of addiction. Skyler attended at least seven different rehabs to battle this addiction to better himself. In August of 2023 Skyler checked in to Sober living in Atlanta. He was doing great, he was employed and paying his bills on time. Unfortunately, someone from his past, who was not good for his battle, took him out of sober living, which led to the domino effect to how his life ended.
Throughout his childhood, Skyler's bond with his mother was unbreakable. Skyler's Grandma used to always refer to him as his mother's second skin, he would not leave his mother's side. Even throughout his adult years, he couldn't walk by his mother without patting her head, coming in for a hug, and singing "I love you, I love you, I LOOOVVEE YOU" imitating the movie Elf. It was this sweet, childish disposition that made Skyler so lovable.
Though Skyler's love and bond with his mother was unmatched, Skyler and his brother, Preston, had a very similar love and bond. They loved finding a new Lego set that they could sit down and build together. They would sit down together with various Lego sets and spend hours building them. When they weren't building Lego sets, they were taking apart game consoles to modify. They would beg and convince Skyler's stepfather to buy them a cheap console from resale sites; by saying they were going to sell them for more, but in reality, they just wanted to deconstruct the consoles to try to modify them for enjoyment. Though, more often than not, they failed and broke them, leaving behind a mound of unusable consoles.
Skyler's relationship with his stepfather, John, was incredible from the very beginning. They enjoyed activities such as playing golf, riding dirt bikes, and kayaking, walking the mall, sitting in the vape shop, or simply sitting on the couch watching TV, those two enjoyed so many adventures together. One thing that stands out is every time, around Halloween, they HAD to visit ALL of the corn mazes possible, and they couldn't just walk through the corn maze. No, they would take turns hiding in the corn to jump out and scare each other, walk past one another and shove them into the corn, and just pure love and enjoyment. They shared a bond through their childish, goofy, thrill-seeking personalities. John always supported Skyler through his recovery, he put him through six of the rehabs Skyler attended.
Skyler was always smiling and laughing, and his laugh, oh his laugh, it was contagious. No matter what he was doing, he always found a way to make it fun and goofy. That contagious laugh will be missed by all.
Skyler's love for animals was unmatched. He would love, and practically beg, to visit the zoo and the aquarium. Skyler never found an animal that he didn't love. He especially loved cats. He would always try to bring home ALL of the stray cats he found, and if he couldn't catch them to bring them home, he would make sure it had food and water outside.
Though he is severely missed, Skyler is finally free from fighting the demons. Whenever we pass by a bookstore, we will always stop in and sniff a book for Skyler, as he loved the smell of a new book, which is how his brother lovingly nicknamed him "book sniffer".
The family will be holding a private service sometime during the next coming weeks. Please be aware that someone has posted a fake notice and are asking for cash. This is not true so please disregard.