SYLVIA I. SKAGGS, 99, STOY, ILLINOIS

VISITATION: 6:00 - 8:00 P.M. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2006 - PULLIAM FUNERAL HOME, OBLONG, IL

FUNERAL SERVICE: 10:30 A.M. SATURDAY DECEMBER 2, 2006 - OUR LADY OF LOURDES CATHOLIC CHURCH, OBLONG, IL

MEMORIALS: ST. VALENTINE CEMETERY FUND OR CRAWFORD COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY - Envelopes at or may be mailed to the Funeral Home

Sylvia I. (Vanover) Skaggs, 99, Stoy, IL, died of natural causes at 7:45 a.m. at the Cotillion Ridge Nursing Center, Robinson, Illinois. Born March 10, 1907 in Terre Haute, Indiana she was the daughter of John and Linnie (Kinman) Vanover. She was a member of the class of '25 at Robinson High School. Sylvia was a live-in maid/lady's companion until her own marriage on October 2, 1929 to Eldon J. Skaggs who preceded her in death on July 29, 1988. Except for the WWII years, Sylvia was Village Treasurer of Stoy from 1935 to 1972. She was a sales clerk and bookkeeper for the Index Notions Company in Oblong from 1962-1966. Her "15 minutes of fame" came with her TV interview of her whitewater rafting trip when she was 88 years old. For many years she and Eldon played with "The Serenaders", a senior-citizen musical troupe who entertained every week at various nursing homes in east central Illinois. She was one of the founding members of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Oblong, where she was a member of the Altar Society and the Ladies of Charity.

Sylvia is survived by five children; Annie M. Calvert, Shirley "Daisy" Boyd, Linnie York, Sharon Skaggs and Phil Skaggs and his wife Carole; daughter-in-law and son-in-law, Linda and Norman Dillingham; eighteen grandchildren; thirty-one great-grandchildren; ten great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Sylvia is preceded by her parents; husband; one son, Douglas Skaggs in 1966; one grandson, Terry Calvert in 2005; three sons-in-law, Victor J. Calvert in 2004, Gaylen Brown in 1987, and Darwin York in 2000; ten siblings, Opal Howell, Joseph "Bud" Vanover, Audrey Hitchen, Edith Rogers, Bonnie Browder, all formerly of St. Marys, OH, Ida Mae, Eunice, Violet, Walter and Raymond Vanover who all died in infancy.

Burial will be in St. Valentine Cemetery, The Bend, Rural Jasper County, Illinois.