Zan L. Skelton

Zan L. Skelton Jr., 83, of Biloxi, MS died Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Biloxi. The longtime Biloxi educator is survived by his son Daniel Wilder Skelton and Dan's wife Terri of Metairie, Louisiana; his son John Logan Skelton and Logan's wife Lisa of Ann Arbor, Michigan; his grandson John Charles Skelton, Metairie; and his granddaughter Alyssa May Skelton, Ann Arbor. He was predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Helen Wilder Skelton; his parents, Zan L Sr. and Dora Lee Logan Skelton; his sister Johnnie Ruth Skelton; and two of his brothers, Jerry and Richard. He is also survived by his sister Connie Skelton Dunn, Meridian, Mississippi; and three brothers, Freddie (Dickie), State Line, Mississippi; James Kenneth, Butler, Alabama; and Edwin Larry, Senatobia, Mississippi. Mr. Skelton was born on December 2, 1928, in Clarke County, an eighth generation American whose Scottish-English forebears settled in Virginia and the Carolinas in the early 1700s, making their way to Mississippi when it was still a Territory. A World War II veteran, at the age of seventeen Mr. Skelton graduated from Enterprise High School and enlisted in the United States Army, serving in the early occupation army in Japan in the Headquarters of the First Cavalry Division until his honorable discharge in 1948. In 1948, he began his college work at Mississippi Southern College, graduating with highest honors in 1951. He was active in and held leadership roles in numerous college organizations, including his fraternity, Kappa Sigma, ODK, Phi Kappa Phi scholastic fraternity, Phi Eta Sigma, and Alpha Psi Omega. He was one of four students in his graduating class to be named to Southern's Hall of Fame in his senior year. Mr. Skelton taught English for one year at Rolling Fork High School, Mississippi; and after winning a Lion Oil essay contest for teachers in seven Southern states, he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Missouri, where he received his master's degree in English and secondary education in 1953. In 1953 he came to Biloxi High School as an English teacher and frequently recalled that in his first years at BHS he taught every senior English student. He continued to teach senior English at the high school until his retirement in 1986, having served as chairman of the English Department all those years. For the last fifteen years of his active career on the faculty he also worked part-time for the administration and the Board of Trustees, acting in various roles to help bring about many significant changes in curriculum and policy development. For twenty-six years he also taught college-level English classes for the University of Southern Mississippi and Gulf Coast Community College. After his retirement from active teaching, he became a consultant for the Biloxi schools, a position he still held at the time of his death. He had also done consulting work for more than 25 other Mississippi school districts. Among Mr. Skelton's proudest accomplishments was the fact that he had worked with and for the Biloxi Public Schools for the past 58 years, in what he believed to be a record of service to the school system he loved so deeply. In October 2011, he was honored by the school district in a special ceremony as the Biloxi High School Library and Media Center was dedicated in his name, and the city administration presented a resolution declaring October 24, 2011, “Zan Skelton Day.” After he retired, Mr. Skelton wrote a memoir titled Mississippi Teacher, recounting his years as an educator. He estimated that more than 8,000 students had been in his high school and college classes, and he had wonderful memories of all the years he had devoted to the career he loved. In 2002 he completed his History of the Biloxi Public Schools, 1924-2001; and in 2010 he completed the third volume in the History of the Biloxi Public Schools, 2001-2010. Copies of both books are in the Biloxi Public Library and on the schools' website. His "Zan Skelton Biloxi Schools Collection," which he donated to the Biloxi Library as a member of the Biloxi Tricentennial Education Committee, contains copies of the Biloxi High School yearbooks from 1937 through 2010. The collection survived Katrina without damage and remains available to future generations of Biloxians. His published work included many professional articles, numerous short stories published in literary magazines, a young adult novel and play, and other writing, including a series of marine education books for elementary school students in collaboration with his longtime colleague and friend Della McCaughan, sponsored by the Bureau of Marine Resources. Mr. Skelton was a Board member of Biloxi First Foundation, which provides grants to Biloxi teachers, and his family requests that any memorial be sent to the Name Grant for Zan and Helen Skelton, care of Biloxi First, P.O. Box 982, Biloxi, MS 39533 A memorial service will be held Wednesday, May 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. at Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home, 2511 Pass Road, in Biloxi where friends may visit from 9:00 a.m. until service time. Interment will be private in the Biloxi City Cemetery.