Richard J Skees

Richard Joseph Skees, better known by his nick name ‘Dick’ to family and friends, was born on October 26, 1943 to Agnes and Stanislaus Skees in Orlando, Florida. Dick was one of nine children and the second oldest with brother Stanley the eldest followed by Dick, Ronald, Reni, Loretta, Fredrick, Michael, Melaine, and Belinda.

Dick was motivated and took on his first job of selling newspapers to the enlisted men on an Army base when the family lived in Texas for a while. He would buy a bundle of papers and walk through the base selling them to the men in the infirmary and barracks areas on the base.

The family moved back to Florida where, working another job in his early teens, Dick cut the tip of his right index finger off. The fingertip was placed in a glass of milk and Dick was taken to the hospital where they were able to reattach the finger, leaving it with a slight bend and crooked at the tip. It was this bend in the tip of his finger that kept Dick from enlisting into the Marines Corps during the Vietnam War era. Both he and his brother Stanley went down to enlist and they took Stanley, but after x-raying Dick’s index finger from every angle imaginable they ended up rejecting him based on grounds that the partially numb and bent fingertip would interfere in his ability to shoot straight. If you know Dick at all, you know he can shoot straight as an arrow and he has a passion for all firearms from air rife to cannon.

Dick was a physically active young man and loved the game of football, which he played while attending a small catholic high school, Bishop Moore. He played both offense and defense in each game for all four years he was in high school as the school was so small they didn’t have enough students to make a full team. He also played on the city league in Orlando and what he called “sand-lot ball” on weekends, playing without pads or helmets until the age of 36.

After high school, Dick spent a year in the seminary in upstate Connecticut; he had dreams of becoming a priest and working with young men in a boy’s home or prison. In recalling that time in his life, he said he was considered a southern hick, because he went barefoot, had a southern drawl and never turned down a challenge. He told a story of how he and several others were in a physical wrestling match that tore the door off the front of the chapel. It was shortly after this that the head of the school came to him and suggested that he should consider another seminary further north where he would need to take a vow of silence and live in a monastery the rest of his life. Can you imagine? The idea of not talking, nor ever expressing his opinion again did not appeal to him and he chose to leave the seminary and returned to Florida, where he enrolled in college and went to work for a construction company.

His four boys; Theron, Derek, Jared and Brandon, were born in Orlando where they grew up enjoying the outdoors. Dick often took them fishing and hunting. He was intentional about making memories such as building an airplane for the backyard, stating “we have to make memories, they don’t just happen”.

Dick started his own construction company and built his first speck home in Orlando at the age of 24. Several years later, at the age of 38, Dick moved his family and business to Columbia Falls, Montana and had a construction contract within a week, the rest is history.

He met Gayle through Glacier Bank and he was one of her favorite customers as he was always upbeat and in a good mood. No matter what was happening in his day, he always had a smile and something pleasant to say. They became telephone buddies and best friends. Always the romantic, he proposed at McDonald Lake on a spring afternoon. They were married in October of 1993 and he was not afraid to take on her 3 teenagers, Angela, Erik and Kurtis. This blended family soon had a separate telephone line for the teenagers with a toggle switch for curfew, a teenager’s car “Sherman the Tank” and list of “sanity rules” to help keep the home running smoothly……

He and Gayle have spent the last 33 years working together on their property and towards common goals.

Dick was in business for 49 years. He built one home, one business, one building at a time and promised his customers 40 hours a week. He would often take on a smaller job that he’d work into the weekend. Dick never took more than a 3-day vacation at one time in all those years. He worked hard and often played just as hard on his days off. He loved his work and didn’t retire until the age of 76.

He was a Lifelong member of the NRA and we often attended the annual fundraising dinners as a family.

Dick lived his life with a passion and purpose. He was outspoken and politically active throughout his life and a true warrior for justice and truth. You couldn’t have a more supportive friend.

The last few years of his life involved a cancer journey that we never anticipated, and he handled with grace and his familiar tenacity. As Gayle cared for him with such devotion, he was so appreciative of her. He lived his love, he didn’t just say it.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Ronald, son Jared, grandchild Jude Samuell and niece Ellie Skees.

He is survived by his wife Gayle, sons Theron Skees and wife Judy, Derek Skees and wife Ronalee, Brandon Skees and wife Amy, and Jared’s widow Michelle Skees-Vinton. His three step-children Angela McLauchlin and husband Derrick, Erik Einarsson and wife Ying, and Kurtis Samuell and wife Rhiannon. Together Dick and Gayle have 11 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren soon to be 10 and numerous nieces and nephews.

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