Wallace Skelton

Wallace "Wally'' Edmund Skelton, a United States Merchant Marine helmsman during World War II, passed away Wednesday.
Mr. Skelton, a long-time Casper resident and employee at Oil Well Perforators, turned 91 the day before his passing at Wyoming Medical Center.

Mark Twain would write: "Wally Skelton never met a man he didn't like, and every man who met Wally liked him.''

The retired, friend-to-all, Mr. Skelton was born in 1924 in Sheridan Township, Minnesota, to William Wallace Skelton and Millie Leona Leonard Skelton. Shortly after his high school graduation in 1942, Wally became a seaman with the U.S. Merchant Marine. He served on ships around the world but primarily in the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East throughout the war and received his honorable discharge at 22.

Wallace returned home to Vesta, Minnesota, and, in 1947, was wedded to sweetheart Lois Marion Nemitz. They were happily married for 61 years until Mrs. Skelton's passing in 2008.

In the 1940s Mr. Skelton went into business with his brother-in-law, and they purchased and ran a dragline before he moved his family to Casper in 1959. He worked for Butane Power & Equipment, Western Equipment and Oil Well Perforators before retiring in 1989.

Wallace enjoyed life to the fullest, spending time with his family and friends, playing Cribbage with his daughter Lori, camping, fishing, and snowbirding in Arizona in the winter.

According to his granddaughter, Nicole, "My grandpa Wally was a story-teller extraordinaire. He was a funny, charismatic, friendly, Godly, salt-of-the-earth stud of a man."

Mr. Skelton was remarried in 2010, in Casper, to Wanda Turner Land and added to his family three step children, Myrna Arnold, Judy White and Fred Land and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
In addition to his wife, Wallace is survived by three children -- Steven, Kevin (Linda), of Houston, Texas, and Lori Hutchison of Denver, Colo.; three grandchildren, Natalie Skelton and Nicole and Ryan Hutchison, and two great grandchildren.

Wally also leaves a host of other family members and friends who loved him dearly. He will be missed by all.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at Sunrise Baptist Church in Casper. A viewing will be held one hour prior to the services, and a light lunch will follow. Interment with military honors will take place at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at Oregon Trail Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Mr. Skelton's honor be made to Sunrise Baptist Church, Trinity Lutheran Church, or to donor's choice.

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