Hampton Bays Community Bids Farewell To Beloved Friend

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — The Hampton Bays community is mourning the loss of a beloved friend.

George Skidmore, 80, died Monday night in his sleep, his friend Rick Martel said, in a Facebook post. "It is with a heavy heart that I let everyone know that my coach, friend, business partner," passed away, he wrote.

Skidmore, who'd had a stroke in April, had been living at the Westhampton Care Center, he said.

"He had been spending his time as he loved, playing golf, rooting for the Giants and coming to work every day," until he fell ill, he said.

Skidmore, who owned Skidmore's Sports and Styles in Hampton Bays on Montauk Highway, was a bastion of the business community and touched countless lives — and friends have turned to social media to mourn his loss and say good-bye.

Memories abounded of a man whose huge heart was filled with kindness for young people; many fondly remembered team shirts and whiffle balls from his shop, a cornerstone of the community.

"Lost a friend today . . . the entire Hampton Bays community, generations of us, did," said Hampton Bays School Superintendent Lars Clemenson.

He added, "The Hampton Bays Schools mourns the loss today of a dear friend, George Skidmore. An alumnus himself, even a member of the Civil Air Corps during WWII as a kid, charged with watching for enemy planes off our coast, George is the standard for what we know as 'Baymen Pride' today.

"In the 1950s, he began the Hampton Bays Little League; today, that's expanded into softball and winter basketball, too. There wasn't a kid or family George didn't care for in all his years. We are thankful to have on our campus 'The Skidmore Athletic Fields,' for there's no better testament to a life than the opportunity to pay it forward for others. In George's case, 'others' was always kids. George, you will be missed but never forgotten," Clemensen said.

Others paid tribute. "Rest in peace, George Skidmore," wrote Linda Kabot. "Thank you for all that you have done for our community over these many years."

Added Thomas Kerr, "The community has experienced a great loss and personally, I have lost a good friend."

Others remembered Skidmore, a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Southampton, as a "community servant," "a wonderful man, with a giving heart," and an "icon," a gifted storyteller who shared memories of Hamptons Bays in days gone by to new generations.

Jamie Roddy-Maloney summed up the thoughts and hearts of so many, writing, "He was Hampton Bays."

Services will be held at the J Ronald Scott Funeral Home on Ponquogue Avenue in Hamptons Bays, beginning on Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m and continuing on Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. A mass will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Hampton Bays United Methodist Church, with burial immediately after at Good Ground Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donation to the Southampton Kiwanis Club or the Hampton Bays Little League in George Skidmore's name are suggested.

Patch courtesy photo.