ISAAC “IKE” NEWTON SKELTON, IV Former Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, 81, passed away Monday, October 28, 2013 at Virginia Hospital Center, Arlington, VA, surrounded by family and friends. Ike Skelton was born December 20, 1931 in Lexington, MO, the son of Isaac Newton Skelton, III and Carolyn Boone Skelton. Ike married Susan Anding in 1961, she preceded him in death in 2005. He married Patricia Martin of Lexington in 2009.
Ike was elected prosecutor in 1956 for Lafayette County, before being elected to the Missouri State Senate in 1970 where he served six years before being elected to congress. He served 17 terms, beginning in 1976, in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. After his government service he joined the national Kansas City-based law firm of Husch Blackwell. He worked for the firm in both Kansas City and Washington, D.C.
Ike was instrumental in helping to build up Missouri’s two military installations, Whiteman Air Force Base and Fort Leonard Wood. Among his civic activities, Skelton was a presidential appointee to the American Battle Monuments Commission, which is in charge of U.S. military resting places overseas, and the World War I Centennial Commission, which is planning next year’s activities marking the 100th anniversary of the start of that war. Skelton had been elected chairman of the Centennial Commission. Skelton was honored at West Point in 2012 with the Sylvanus Thayer Award, presented to “an outstanding citizen whose service and accomplishments in the national interests exemplify the Military Academy motto, ‘Duty, Honor, Country.'”
Skelton had three sons with his first wife, Susan Anding, who died in August 2005. In 2009 he married Patricia Martin of Lexington, who survives along with his sons, U.S. Navy Capt. Ike Skelton V, and wife, Elena, Lexington, MO, U. S. Army Colonel James Skelton and wife, Lexington, MO, Anita” and Harry Page Skelton and wife, Caroline Chapel Hill, N.C.; Brothers, John B. Skelton, Bradenton, FL and James P. Skelton, Warrensburg, MO. There are five grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Monday, November 4, 2013 in Wikoff Hall at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, MO. Burial in Machpelah Cemetery, Lexington with Military Rites. Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m., Sunday, November 3, 2013 at Wentworth Military Academy Grondyke Hall.
In Lieu of flowers the following memorials in Ike’s memory are suggested: National WWI Centennial Commission, WWI Museum, 100 W. 26th St., Kansas City, MO 64108; Sigma Chi Educational Foundation of Missouri C/O John Keech, 6310 Lamar Ave. Ste. 110, Overland Park, KS 66202; Wentworth Military Academy, 1880 Washington Ave., Lexington, MO 64067; Lexington Auditorium Association, P.O. Box 100, Lexington, MO 64067. Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors(TAPS) National Headquarters 3033 Wilson Blvd. Suite 630, Arlington, VA 22201
Arrangements: Walker-Nadler-Fuller Funeral Home, 1720 South Street, Lexington, Mo.
