Skewes, who passed away on Mar. 27, served below 4 Dartmouth presidents and worked for a quantity of Hanover neighborhood organizations.
Supply: Courtesy of David Skewes
More than the course of his life, John Greenslade Skewes ’51 TU ’56 had a “peaceful” attitude that profoundly impacted absolutely everyone about him, according to his son David Skewes.
“He was 1 of the kindest folks I ever knew,” his son, David Skewes, mentioned. “Everybody that knew him loved him.”
Skewes, who passed away on Mar. 27, served as Director of Organization Affairs for the College and led and founded various organizations in Hanover. Skewes is survived by his two sons, two daughters, 5 grandchildren and 3 fantastic-grandchildren, according to his on line obituary. He was 93 years old.
Skewes was hugely involved in town life, according to David Skewes. He founded the Hanover Youth Hockey Association, served as president of the Hanover Improvement Society, was a member of each the Hanover and Dresden College Boards and the Hanover Board of Selectmen. Skewes also chaired the Hanover Inn Board of Overseers, directed the Hanover Water Operates Enterprise and was involved with the Hanover Rotary Club. In 1993, Skewes was named Hanover’s Citizen of the Year.
Born in Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1929, Skewes moved to Concord, Massachusetts, for his senior year of higher college ahead of graduating in 1946.
As a born and raised Granite Stater who grew up attending Dartmouth football games and track meets, Skewes never ever doubted exactly where he wanted to attend college, he mentioned in a 2003 interview.
“I was a Dartmouth fan from getting a kid,” Skewes mentioned. “I just never ever viewed as something else.”
Dartmouth was the only college applied to, and he was “semi-recruited” to play football by backfield coach Milton Piepul, according to Skewes’ interview. When in college, Skewes majored in history and founded Dartmouth’s initially rugby group.
“[John Skewes and other students] began the rugby plan mainly because there was a tournament in Bermuda,” David Skewes mentioned. “They believed it would be a fantastic excuse to go to Bermuda on spring break, which was 1 of his fondest memories.”
Soon after graduating from Dartmouth in 1951, Skewes enlisted in the Army “with 3 other friends” from college, serving as an officer through the Korean War. When on leave from officer candidate college, Skewes met his wife Constance back in Concord. David Skewes recalled his father’s story of meeting his mother at the division retailer, exactly where she worked at the time.
“He went up to her and mentioned ‘Would you like to go to a hockey game?’ to which she responded ‘with who?’ and he mentioned ‘with me,’ and that was their introduction,” David Skewes mentioned.
Hockey was an crucial component of Skewes’ life, according to David Skewes. He was his son’s hockey coach, and took their group to Lou’s Restaurant & Bakery — which was then owned by his pal and founder Lou Bressett — right after each and every practice.
“I would nonetheless be in my hockey gear sitting at the counter with my dad, obtaining 1 of Lou’s crullers and a cup of hot chocolate,” David Skewes mentioned. “I’d say that is 1 of my favourite memories.”
John Hochreiter, who served as President of the Hanover Improvement Society right after Skewes, and as a member of the Hanover Rotary Club, remembered Skewes as “self-assured, dynamic and 1 of the brightest folks I’ve come across.”
According to Hochreiter, Skewes had a “valuable” connection to the Hanover neighborhood, adding that Skewes “engineered the subsequent two presidents” of the Hanover Improvement Society by “putting his arm about and saying ‘wouldn’t you like to do this?’”
Skewes helped the Rotary Club to kind a improved connection with the College, Hochreiter mentioned. As a member of the College’s administration, he facilitated the conversations that gave Rotary a “town-gown connection,” according to Hochreiter.
“[Skewes] generally believed in the rotary traditions of service above self,” Hochreiter mentioned.
Skewes never ever forgot the lifelong pals he produced whilst at Dartmouth. He could nonetheless recall the names of his classmates eighty years right after graduation, operating into and sitting with old pals at Dartmouth football games, David Skewes mentioned.
“That’s a quite neat legacy,” he mentioned.
Every single time Skewes left Hanover, he identified his way back. Soon after graduating from the Tuck College of Organization in 1956, he and Connie temporarily moved to Connecticut. Sooner or later, the couple identified that they could not justify living in Connecticut when they wanted to commit their time in New Hampshire, according to David Skewes.
When asked what kept Skewes in Hanover, David Skewes answered, “Dartmouth.”
“He just loved the College,” David Skewes mentioned. “He walked to operate. He was just so familiar with the spot and he loved getting a component of that neighborhood.”