12
HONORARY MEMBER PROFILE: Lawrence Skelton
During this time, Larry attended a number of uni-
versities, including Trinity where he earned an
MBA Management and Finance in 1977. He also
attended Air Force Institute of Technology at the
University of Dayton Advanced Logistics Manage-
ment Certification and Industrial College of the
Armed Forces Economics and National Defense.
The most amusing event of Larry's career o c-
curred while he was in the Air Force stationed at
Perrin AFB, Texas. He and his airmen were remod-
eling the men's latrine at the Fuels Management A d-
ministration building. They had installed a new uri-
nal, but had not plumbed it. At this time the base
was visited by the Commanding General of the 14
th
Air Force, Brigadier General Tom Beeson who was
brought to their building, which they had already
repainted and completed additional work, as an ex-
ample of the base's "self help initiatives". General
Beeson headed straight for the latrine and used the
urinal. The flushed water came right out the bottom
and onto his shoes and cuffs (no sign had been put
up, since the building occupants all knew it was out-
of-order and to use the stool). General Beeson came
out and said "you guys ought to put a sign up did
you know your urinal was broke?' Larry says that he
was embarrassed beyond words and the wing C.O.
was furious. The General laughed it off and soothed
the wing C.O. The based engineers arrived within
10 minutes after the visiting party left., stormed in
frowning and plumbed the urinal. Larry heard no
more about it.
While in the service, Larry married Mary Pearl
Fuller of Fruita, Colorado in February of 1965 at Ed-
wards AFB, California. Mary and Larry have two
sons: Harold, a speech pathologist with USD 259
and John, who is self-employed. They have 3 grand-
children.
Prior to joining the Air Force, Larry had worked
for six months at Surdex, a photogametry mapping
company in St. Louis. After his discharge he joined
the Kansas Geological Survey in 1981. After being
employed by the survey for several years, Larry en-
rolled at Wichita State University and obtained his
MS in 1991. At WSU, Larry was influenced by Dr.
Dan Merriam, finding in Dr. Merriam some of the
same qualities that he had discovered in his professor
at Indiana University. Larry has combined his 22
years employment at the survey with some academic
endeavors. He has taught geology and geography
courses at Cowley County Community College. He
This year's honoree Lawrence "Larry" Skelton
has consistently served the geological profession and
the Kansas Geological Society in a wide variety of
ways to the benefit of both.
His story commences in Evansville, Indiana in
1937, where his father was engaged in several occu-
pations eventually owning an electro-plating com-
pany. Larry's mother was a fulltime wife and mother
and was able to devote herself to raising Larry as he
did not have any siblings.
His entire primary and secondary schooling was
in Evansville culminating in his graduation from
Central High School, which Larry states " allegedly
the oldest public high school west of the Allegheny
Mountains"
At the age of ten, a lapidary friend of his Dad's
presented him with a medicine box filled with scraps
of different colored stones and fragments of miner-
als. Larry says "I'd never seen so many pretty colo r-
ful stones and I was hooked from then on". Prior to
this occurrence, Larry had been interested in bugs
and considered becoming an Entomologist.
Larry graduated with a degree in geology from
Indiana University in geology. One of the professors
at Indiana that Larry believes influenced him was Dr.
Charles Vitelano, in part because he was friendly and
treated him like a person not just a non-descript stu-
dent, and at the same time prodded him to work
harder. He then joined the United States Air Force
where he served for 21 years, retiring in 1981 with
the rank of Lt. Colonel. Most of his service time was
spent as a petroleum logistics officer.