Thomas Aquinas Skerbeck

THOMAS AQUINAS SKERBECK

March 13, 1961 – February 2, 2025

Thomas came into the world March 13, 1961, and left us on
February 2, 2025. He was born the 12th child to a family that
would eventually total 15 siblings. As the 12th -born, he was
baptized by Archbishop Thomas A. Connelly at Queen of Angels
Church in Port Angeles.

Thomas attended elementary school at Dry Creek, a school for
developmentally disabled students, where he met what would
be lifelong contemporary friends. He graduated from this
program and attended special education classes at Port Angeles
Senior High School, where he was a proud 1979 graduate the
year he turned eighteen. Years later, on his weekly overnight

with his mother Dorothy at The Lodge in Sequim, he chose to
dine with a teacher whom he associated with his glory days at
Port Angeles Senior High School. Everyone Thomas met was
either already a friend or a potential friend.

Like other high school graduates, Thomas declared a strong
desire to live as an independent adult with his friends. In order
to earn a place on the waiting list at Christine Apartments, the
assisted living facility his parents helped create, he needed first
to prove his need by failing an attempt at living independently.
He rented a basement apartment in Seattle while attending a
course at the University of Washington that taught restaurant-
related skills to differently abled students. He learned to buy
candy bars, magazines, and how not to get on the right bus. On

one memorable occasion, his Seattle-based siblings found him
missing from his own birthday party at his own apartment. A
“missing person at risk” alert told them he’d been recognized
by a Seattle Metro bus driver and hours later, a bus delivered
him dancing with joy to his own reflection, alone in his chariot,
blessedly unharmed. Whew!

After a “setback” period back home with his parents, Thomas
secured a spot at Christine Apartments on 7th Street in West
Port Angeles. He lived there continuously save a few
exhilarating vacations (Hawaii, Disney, summer camps),
experiencing a collection of different roommates, and
eventually rising to the apartment complex’s lofty “single”
apartment. He was visited by a brother or a sister each
weekend, who each did their best to meet his love of bowling,

sports teams, cowboy and adventure movies, and professional
wrestling. He moved to a ground-floor apartment when his
aching joints no longer tolerated the sets of stairs to his aerie,
and it was in that space that Thomas evinced symptoms of
seizures and dementia and ultimately died in his bed at what
had been his home for 37 years.

Thomas was predeceased by his father Frank, his mother
Dorothy, his brother Franz, his sister Marilyn, and his brother
Eric. Thomas is survived by his sister Kathy Beil, sister Sharron
Kron, sister Bobbie Stoneman (Don), sister Patty Metcalf
(Conard), sister Carole Kalahar (Michael), brother Leon (Lucille
Celestino), sister Teresa Cherf (Ken), brother K.Ben (Kim),
brother Matt, brother Damian (Carrie), and brother Andy. He is
loved by brothers in law Bob Baldwin (deceased) and Ron Beil.

He is also loved and mourned by numerous in-laws, nieces and
nephews.

There will be a funeral mass for Thomas at Queen of Angels
Church at 11:00 AM Friday, February 14, followed by a
reception at the Queen of Angels Hall adjacent to the church.

Donations may be sent to Camp Beausite Northwest, which
serves persons with special needs ages 7–99+.
(Thomas loved his time at what he called “Camp Bullseye”.)

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