Skip was one of the very first people I met when I came to Phoenixville. Though I'd caught some pretty rough first impressions on my way in, Skip was one person who always managed to keep my hopes afloat while adjusting to a new place. Without ever actually saying so, Skip convinced me to stick around and simply keep searching for more people like himself. People who are invariably well-mannered and cordial as Skip was, people who see an individual and their stance on the issues as two different entities. People whose first reflex is to accept rather than judge, to befriend rather than reject. People who have empathy for every last person that crosses their path. This is all much more than I can say for myself, as well as the majority of people I've met along the road of life. That said, Skip's passing is truly a hit to not only our local community, but a major loss to our society as a whole.

Though my one year knowing and working with Skip seems momentary at this point, my friends and I have forged plenty of great memories with him that will last until we're able to sit and talk with him again. Having him over to the house for coffee and conversation on the porch. Filming the music video, enduring a long election night, and attending my first three-hour borough council meeting that, without Skip, may as well have been conducted in Chinese. He encouraged me to seize the opportunity to intern with the Devereux Foundation, a cause he believed in, that a semester later has changed the course of my life and my career forever. I'll always think of Skip whenever I get my hair cut too - if I did something different, he was always ready with a compliment that was sure to warm my heart - and turn my cheeks pink as well.

I wish Skip the best on the other side - I'm sure he's wasted no time in picking the brains of great people that, while on Earth, he could have only imagined having the opportunity to interview. And he's more than qualified to do so. To anyone headed upstairs from this point on, take heart. As the Reverend Horton Heat says, "you've got someone in heaven to talk with today, someone who knows just the right thing to say." Without a doubt, that person is and always has been our good old friend Skip Lawrence.

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Christine H. Gibboni
Phoenix Correspondent