Christina J. Skulas

1922 - 2011

(NEWS ARTICLE) Christina J. Skulas, an English teacher whose enthusiasm and ingenuity won students over to mythology and literature, died Sunday in Ebeid Hospice of Sylvania. She was 89.

She learned in 1998 that she had mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, her daughter, Irene, said. She avoided chemotherapy and radiation therapy and relied on nutrition, vitamins, and regular vigorous exercise.

Mrs. Skulas of West Toledo taught in the Washington Local Schools district, retiring in 1985 from Whitmer High School. She taught on the Whitmer campus for more than two decades, both in the high school and in Washington Junior High. She had been head of the English department in each school.

She often taught honors English classes. She and her classes put on plays and holiday festivals. For her Festival of the Gods, students re-enacted scenes from Greek mythology.

Mrs. Skulas taught journalism and at the junior high was adviser to the newspaper. Students with low motivation to read or commit words to paper might have been assigned a comic book illustration and asked, "Can you put this picture in words?"

"She would talk to the kids and find out what their interests were and try to match that to the assignment," her daughter said. "She was brave enough to try stuff she hadn't tried before."

Her three children have education degrees. Her daughter teaches in the Bedford Public Schools and has done medical research. Her son Ron, formerly of Bowling Green State University, teaches at Northern Kentucky University and Cincinnati State University.

"She showed a love of subject and an enthusiasm to make the kids better by giving them a love of the subject," her son said. "Once she latched on to something as a mission in her life, that was it."

Mrs. Skulas was born Jan. 31, 1922, in Indianapolis to Hareklia and John Cherpas. Her parents were immigrants, and contrary to the advice of friends in their Greek-American community, they sent her to college.

"Her parents were kind of pioneers. Her mother said, 'She's got a brain, and she wants to use it,'?" her daughter said.

Mrs. Skulas was valedictorian of her class at Butler University, from which she received a bachelor of education degree.

She was a longtime member of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral and had been superintendent of the Sunday school there. She was a member of the Ladies Philoptochos Society, the Tenedian Brotherhood, and the Pancretan Association.

Mrs. Skulas traveled the world, including at least three visits to Greece. Most places she went, even on an Athens street, she was hailed and greeted by former students.

"She thought it was a hoot. She thought it was so funny," her daughter said.

She and her husband, Michael, married June 26, 1950. He died April 20, 2007.

Surviving are her daughter, Irene Skulas; sons, Martin and Myron "Ron" Skulas; four grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday in St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Christina Church, where visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. Arrangements are by the Newcomer Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Dormition Monastery, Rives Junction, Mich.

Contact Blade Staff Writer Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.