Obituary: Skinner, Sally Jo (Langdon)
She was born September 5, 1932 in Palouse, Washington to Joseph Charles Langdon and Thelma May Johnson.
The family moved to Spokane in 1937 where Sally spent her childhood.
Sally graduated from North Central High School and attended Gonzaga University and Washington State College.
She was working as a laboratory technician in Spokane when she met Kenneth Skinner.
They married in 1955.
Ken worked for Boeing and they lived in Seattle.
Ken and Sally had three daughters.
Sally was a devoted mother to all of them.
She instilled in them her refined tastes in cooking, fashion and art.
She threw herself into her daughters’ activities in and out of school, including their craft projects and Girl Scouts.
When her daughters were older, Sally returned to work at Bellevue Community College, where she worked as a placement assessor.
Her empathy and compassion for the students made her well known on campus.
After she retired, she spent as much time as she could staying involved with her family and especially her four grandchildren.
She was a grandmother extraordinaire.
People were drawn to Sally because of her outgoing and effervescent personality.
She developed many friendships over the years because she was so easy to get to know.
Anyone visiting her home was instantly welcomed as if they were long-time family friends.
Throughout her life, Sally remained young in spirit and remained engaged in politics and social trends.
It’s difficult to epitomize a personality such as Sally’s, but what comes closest is one of her favorite sayings from Julia Child: “Life itself is the proper binge.”
She is survived by her husband Ken, her daughters Shannon Skinner (husband Tom Tanaka), Megan Skinner and Darcy Pease (husband Alan), and her four grandchildren, Ross, Hannah, Spencer and Scott.
She was buried in Palouse, joining her mother, father and older brother David.