BEND, Ore. – Although Skip was born in 1947, we did not meet one another until April 1984, when a move brought him to work as a fellow neonatologist at Maine Medical Center. A genuine and unselfish guy who loved his family and excelled at his work, I hoped we would become life-long friends.
Delighted to have Skip bring his skills as a neonatologist, I realized he would have an immediate impact in the NICU, bringing both his research and medical expertise. Caring for a NICU premature baby requires the skills of many team members to create and implement a professional care plan. Skip deeply valued and respected individual contributions…and his humor and dedication helped both with treatment and working side by side with colleagues. He was quick to share both joy and credit when a healthy infant went home. As a group, we experienced the reality that a cure was not always possible, but that care could always be given, treating each child as if they were a family member.
As conscientious as he was in his work, he was most dedicated in his role as a husband to Dianne and father to Briarly and Corey. After their move to Maine, we had Dianne and Skip over for a family dinner. They ended up spending the entire night because an early April snowstorm blocked our road. My wife Gail and I knew then that we wanted their family to be our close friends.
Skip loved fly fishing and we shared that with our same-age sons, Matt and Corey. A memorable trip took place in Ontario, together with Skip’s father and uncle, where they had been going for 40+ years. Together we loved fishing both in Maine, and for him, in Yellowstone and the Deschutes river in Bend, Oregon. One humorous moment occurred in Maine when practicing “catch and release”; he believed that his fish was free but a swallow flew in to eat the fly Skip was casting and became tangled in his line. I will remember Skip beaming with joy when he landed a fish of any size.
His winter passion was cheering on the Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team. Having completed his medical training at Duke, the team was always an animated topic of conversation. Watching NCAA tournaments together in person, and later on Skype when he moved to Bend, Skip made certain I knew how great the Blue Devils were.
I am most thankful for what we shared as friends and with our families. We shared such joy in seeing our children marry and later as grandparents. Though separated by distance, we also shared grief and sadness when Skip’s son Corey died in 2015 and my wife Gail died in 2017. Skip endured his decline with Alzheimer’s with great humility and grace. He died in Hospice care in Bend, Ore. on August 8, 2026.
I lost a valued friendship and my chance to say that my life was better because of him. Thank you for a life well lived my friend!
– By Doug Dransfield
These classmate obituary pages are our attempt to honor and remember classmates who have passed away. We have attempted to find and share a public obituary and have added some photos and classmate comments. In some cases we have not been able to find an obituary. If you know of an obituary where one is missing, please let us know. If you have a remembrance you think is important to share, please let us know. Comments can be submitted through the Contact Us form on this web site.