Obituary
James Kevin Skane
Former Tonto hills resident James Kevin Skane died on June 24, 2009 at the VA Hospital in Phoenix. He was 57.
He was born in Rockville Center, N.Y.
He spent much of his early year living abroad in South America, Africa and Ireland. He returned to the United States to attend Notre Dame University.
He served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a quadriplegic after a Marine Corps accident in 1974.
He moved to Arizona in 1976 and completed his bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance at Arizona State University.
Jim was a tremendous sports fan who was particularly devoted to the Arizona Cardinals. He created the website Arizona Sports Fan Network (ASFN) where he enjoyed interacting with other sports fans.
He was loved for his honest, forthright character and his quiet generosity, admired for his keen intellect and will be greatly missed as someone who never felt sorry for himself though he was faced with adversity, which would make cowards of most people.
He is survived by his wife, Melanie; mother, Laura; brothers, Patrick, Michael, Daniel; sisters, Kathleen (Digney), Laura (Stell), Margaret (Woodmansee) and Elizabeth.
He was preceded in death by his father, James F. and a brother, Dennis.
Memorial services and a mass will be held on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at Our Lady of Joy Catholic Church at 10:30 a.m. It will be followed by military funeral honors at National Memorial Cemetery on the corner of Cave Creek and Pinnacle Peak roads at 12:30 p.m. For those attending the service, please do not hesitate to dress casually.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Freedom Service Dogs, (Freedomservicedogs.org) 2000 W. Union Ave., Englewood, CO, 80110.