Sarah Skinner

SKINNER, SARAH - of Tuckerton, passed into Life Eternal on February 18, 2009 after a long illness. Born Sarah May Dixon on June 12, 1912, to William and Ella May (Camp) Dixon of Williamstown, she was the oldest of thirteen siblings. She married Robert Shaw Skinner of the Skinner Glass Factory in Hammonton in 1935, where they lived until 1960, raising two daughters. The couple then moved to Tuckerton, opening Skinner's Marina, so that Robert could pursue his life-long dream of boat-building. While Sarah was forced by family financial needs to leave school at the end of the sixth grade, she always held education in high esteem, encouraging her family members to attend college. She was proud of her success as a hard-working, resourceful businesswoman, beginning her career as a waitress at Kelly's Restaurant, where she met her long-time friend, Jennie, later one of the owners of Johnson Hardware. After her wedding to Robert, Sarah returned to work as a waitress at Christos's Diner, later taking a job on the floor of the Skinner Glass Factory, where she worked while also raising her daughters and taking care of various family members through the years. After Robert died in 1969, Sarah took on the non-traditional role of a woman in a generally male business and continued to run the Marina until her death, with the help of family members and her loving, long-time companion, Francis J. Weston. After the opening of the Tuckerton Seaport Museum, she generously donated a piece of land in memory of her late husband, Robert. Sarah is survived by her long-time companion, Francis J. Weston; her daughters, Joyce S. Barrett of Caroga Lake, NY, and Marjorie J. Avellino and her husband, Vincent, of Hammonton; six grandchildren, Geoffrey Skinner Barrett and his wife, Karen, of Elk Point, SD; Dr. Constance E. Barrett and her husband, Marc Wienert, of Elmsford, NY; Deborah Barrett Price and her husband, Timothy, of Columbus, OH; Marjorie Sarah Avellino Sherrard and her husband, James, of Williamstown; Vincent Anthony Avellino and his wife, Colleen, of Hammonton; Joyce Jean Avellino Kaine and her companion, Michael Simon of New Cumberland, PA; eight great-grandchildren, Stephanie and Kyle Price, James and Christopher Sherrard, Lucas and Liam Kaine and their step-brother Marlin Simon, and Vincent and Rebecca Avellino; her sisters, Dorothy Halacki of Hammonton and Esther Hoffman of Cedar Brook; her brothers, Charles Dixon of Sicklerville and George Dixon of Hammonton; and several nieces and nephews and other extended family. The Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, February 23, 2009, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Peach St. and Central Ave., in Hammonton, NJ, 08037. Visiting hours will be at 10:00 a.m. on Monday at Marinella Funeral Home, 102 N. 3rd Street, Hammonton. Burial will take place after the service at Greenmount Cemetery. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Endowment Fund of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. www.marinellafuneralhome.com