Former Director of Company Affairs John Skewes ’51 TU’56 remembered for service to College and town

Skewes, who passed away on Mar. 27, served below 4 Dartmouth presidents and worked for a quantity of Hanover neighborhood organizations.

by Varun Swaminathan
| five minutes ago

Supply: Courtesy of David Skewes

More than the course of his life, John Greenslade Skewes ’51 TU ’56 had a “peaceful” attitude that profoundly impacted everybody about him, according to his son David Skewes. 

“He was one particular of the kindest persons I ever knew,” his son, David Skewes, stated. “Everybody that knew him loved him.”

Skewes, who passed away on Mar. 27, served as Director of Company Affairs for the College and led and founded quite a few organizations in Hanover. Skewes is survived by his two sons, two daughters, 5 grandchildren and 3 fantastic-grandchildren, according to his on-line obituary. He was 93 years old.

Skewes was hugely involved in town life, according to David Skewes. He founded the Hanover Youth Hockey Association, served as president of the Hanover Improvement Society, was a member of each the Hanover and Dresden College Boards and the Hanover Board of Selectmen. Skewes also chaired the Hanover Inn Board of Overseers, directed the Hanover Water Operates Firm and was involved with the Hanover Rotary Club. In 1993, Skewes was named Hanover’s Citizen of the Year. 

Born in Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1929, Skewes moved to Concord, Massachusetts, for his senior year of higher college just before graduating in 1946. 

As a born and raised Granite Stater who grew up attending Dartmouth football games and track meets, Skewes under no circumstances doubted exactly where he wanted to attend college, he stated in a 2003 interview. 

“I was a Dartmouth fan from becoming a kid,” Skewes stated. “I just under no circumstances regarded as something else.” 

Dartmouth was the only college applied to, and he was “semi-recruited” to play football by backfield coach Milton Piepul, according to Skewes’ interview. When in college, Skewes majored in history and founded Dartmouth’s initial rugby group. 

“[John Skewes and other students] began the rugby system due to the fact there was a tournament in Bermuda,” David Skewes stated. “They believed it would be a fantastic excuse to go to Bermuda on spring break, which was one particular of his fondest memories.”

Right after graduating from Dartmouth in 1951, Skewes enlisted in the Army “with 3 other friends” from college, serving as an officer for the duration of the Korean War. When on leave from officer candidate college, Skewes met his wife Constance back in Concord. David Skewes recalled  his father’s story of meeting his mother at the division retailer, exactly where she worked at the time.

“He went up to her and stated ‘Would you like to go to a hockey game?’ to which she responded ‘with who?’ and he stated ‘with me,’ and that was their introduction,” David Skewes stated.

Hockey was an critical aspect of Skewes’ life, according to David Skewes. He was his son’s hockey coach, and took their group to Lou’s Restaurant &amp Bakery — which was then owned by his pal and founder Lou Bressett — soon after each and every practice. 

“I would nevertheless be in my hockey gear sitting at the counter with my dad, obtaining one particular of Lou’s crullers and a cup of hot chocolate,” David Skewes stated. “I’d say that is one particular of my preferred memories.”

John Hochreiter, who served as President of the Hanover Improvement Society soon after Skewes, and as a member of the Hanover Rotary Club, remembered Skewes as “self-assured, dynamic and one particular of the brightest persons I’ve come across.”

According to Hochreiter, Skewes had a “valuable” connection to the Hanover neighborhood, adding that Skewes “engineered the subsequent two presidents” of the Hanover Improvement Society by “putting his arm about and saying ‘wouldn’t you like to do this?’” 

Skewes helped the Rotary Club to type a much better connection with the College, Hochreiter stated. As a member of the College’s administration, he facilitated the conversations that gave Rotary a “town-gown connection,” according to Hochreiter.

“[Skewes] often believed in the rotary traditions of service above self,” Hochreiter stated.

Skewes under no circumstances forgot the lifelong pals he created although at Dartmouth. He could nevertheless recall the names of his classmates eighty years soon after graduation, operating into and sitting with old pals at Dartmouth football games, David Skewes stated.

“That’s a fairly neat legacy,” he stated.

Each and every time Skewes left Hanover, he identified his way back. Right after graduating from the Tuck College of Company in 1956, he and Connie temporarily moved to Connecticut. Ultimately, the couple identified that they could not justify living in Connecticut when they wanted to devote their time in New Hampshire, according to David Skewes.  

When asked what kept Skewes in Hanover, David Skewes answered, “Dartmouth.” 

“He just loved the College,” David Skewes stated. “He walked to operate. He was just so familiar with the location and he loved becoming a aspect of that neighborhood.”