Wanda Joan Skeen

Wanda Joan Skeen
Wanda Joan (Hicks) Skeen was born December 8, 1952 to Wayne Lee and Delores Marie (Brownwood) Hicks in rural Larimer County, Colorado near the "Sweetheart Town" of Loveland. After a courageous ten-year battle with cancer, she passed from this life into the presence of her Lord and Savior on November 3, 2024. She died at home on her beloved family farm of 64 years in rural Berthoud, Colorado.
Wanda graduated from Berthoud High School in 1970. She was married to Reuben Wayne Skeen, II on August 12, 1971 in Loveland, Colorado. She would devote the remaining 53 years of her life as a devoted helpmeet to her husband in the gospel ministry of the Lord and as the skilled and devoted homemaker for her family in every area from culinary creativity to nutritional health to effective discipline and more.
Their family was soon blessed with two wonderful children, Aaron Wayne Skeen and Deborah JoAnne (Skeen) Gardner, who would, under her loving tutelage, grow up to love and serve the Lord Jesus, becoming productive citizens and contributors to their families and society.
Her life was marked by a true and equal partnership with her husband and she served in many ministry roles including Sunday School teacher, children's nursery pastor, Vacation Bible School director, adult Bible teacher, Seniors Group coordinator, pianist, organist, church custodian, lawn and property management, and anywhere else there was a need in the churches they served in Wyoming, Missouri, and Colorado.
Though she was willing to work outside the home, if necessary, she and her husband realized her ministry calling would be as an at-home mother. Her delight in children led her to become an in-home daycare provider that would extend her loving care and influence to the lives of many extended-family, church, and community children. This continued until her final illness made it unsustainable.
From childhood, for many years extending into her marriage, she also helped on the family dairy farm, assisting her mother by taking the lead in housework and alongside her mother feeding baby calves, gardening, engaging in animal husbandry, and veterinarian tasks. She was also adept at helping her dad, operating farm machinery, driving trucks, and generally living as a genuine farmgirl. Some of her favorite childhood days were rainy ones because on those days her dad could sometimes be indoors with his young family, playing the guitar or harmonica and singing. And she loved it all!
Her life was deeply influenced by her devout Christian immediate and extended families. She had a rich spiritual heritage in her church and gave her heart and life to the Lord as a young girl. She was, early on, involved in teaching children, participating in worship music, and in the church's vibrant Youth Group.
Hers was a simple, quiet faith; she didn't wear it on her sleeve; she merely lived it out. She wasn't religious; she was merely and truly a Christian with an unassuming witness to the love of God and the power of His grace. Her relationship with Jesus was deep and her prayers were mighty because her trust in God was strong through the fullness of the Holy Spirit's presence in her soul. Her intercessory prayers often changed circumstances and events as they were happening, including deadly health events in her family.
She was gifted as a seamstress and also as a common-sense nurse, exhibiting a strong, self-taught approach to the healing arts in nutrition, first aid, surgery, and wound care. Her immediate family and others within her circle of care are living proof.
She was preceded in death by her parents and is survived by her husband Wayne of the home, her son Aaron and wife Alyssa of Berthoud, her daughter Debbie Jo and husband Jeff of Caldwell, Idaho; six grandchildren, Alexis, Andrew, and Aiden Skeen of Berthoud; and Madison, Chase, and Maycie Gardner of Caldwell; her brother Paul and wife Karen of Lusk, Wyoming; an uncle, Wade Hicks; an aunt, Darlene (Hicks) Helsel; and a host of cousins, nephews, nieces, neighbors, and friends.
Her Bible life-verse was Philippians 4:8 and it described her approach to life: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." To know her was to love her, for she was a Heaven-sent "angel dressed in gingham." She knew and believed that her eternal Salvation is due only to her faith in Jesus and His sacrificial death. And her good deeds and moral life serve as evidence that her "calling and election [is] sure."
She would encourage each of us to put our faith in Jesus and determine to live for Him so that she will be able to see us again someday. Wanda is sorely missed but her absence here makes our hope of Heaven immeasurably stronger and brighter.
– Revelation 14:13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
- Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.