George Stoddard Skeen was born June 11, 1903, to Lyman Stoddard and Annie Skelton Skeen in Plain City, Utah. He was the seventeenth child of Lyman and the sixth child of Lyman and Annie. He grew up on the family farm with his many brothers and sisters in Plain City. Later in his life he worked for the American Can Company in Ogden.
Margaret Freestone Wingate remembered him and wrote the following story:
“George died very young so he is almost forgotten. I remember sitting on the world pile watching him cut wood. Every day when he got home from work at 4 o’clock Grandma and George would have tea. I was always invited to have tea with them whenever I was there. Of course mine was hot milk with sugar in it. I felt very important and they made me feel special. Uncle George was engaged to Phyllis Hilton and was to be married in April. He brought her home often. She was a very good pianist and tried to teach me to play the piano. I was there when he was very ill. He died at Dee Hospital on March 19, 1932 of Acute broncho pneumonia. A contributing factor was Acute Nephritis, as stated on his death certificate. It was so sad. Phyllis did not marry for many years. She and Mom (Lenora) communicated often and she called Mom when she got married.
“Uncle George’s death was the beginning of a very terrible time for the family. After George, there was Hazel Rhead. She died of a ruptured appendix and was Charles Skeen’s daughter. Gilbert Freestone, my brother. Then Grandma Annie Skelton Skeen, Grandpa Lyman Skeen, and then Russell Skeen, son of Wilford and Mayme Skeen, all died within a short time of each other.”
