BOCA RATON, FLA. - Rose-Marie Skerratt, 92, formerly of Lowellville, Ohio died on Friday, May 8, 2015, at St. Andrews North Retirement Community in Boca Raton, FL.
Born on July 13, 1922, to James R. and Michelina Chutz of Lowellville, Ohio, she was a graduate of Lowellville High School, where she was a keen student and salutatorian of the class of 1939.
She then enrolled in the Youngstown Hospital School of Nursing and Youngstown College, now Youngstown State University.
There, she met her future husband, Ralph W. Skerratt Jr., who was student council president, and a member of the college’s first-ever football team.
Later, he became a co-founder, and eventual president, CEO, and chairman of the Falcon Foundry Company in Lowellville. They were married on Aug. 2, 1943.
A month later, as U.S. involvement in World War II intensified, they bid one another good-bye, as Ralph shipped off to Europe on an Army troop ship. They were apart for 27 months, during which time Rose-Marie completed her nurse’s training, and became a registered nurse in 1944.
Mrs. Skerratt was a longtime member of the First Unitarian Church in Youngstown, the Youngstown Hospital Nurses’ Alumnae, and the Youngstown Hospital Volunteer Auxiliary.
In Lowellville, she was a founder and past chair of the Lowellville Summer Recreation Program, past president of the PTA, and belonged to the Lowellville Garden Club.
She moved permanently to Boca Raton, with her husband, in 1994.
She leaves a son, William R. of Bernardsville, N.J.; two grandchildren, Laura Shabazz of Bernardsville and Brian Skerratt of Hong Kong; and one great-grandchild, Zoey Shabazz of Bernardsville.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph; a son, Robert Brian, who died in childhood; her parents; and James L. Chutz, her younger brother.
There will be no services or calling hours.
Cremation will occur in Boca Raton, with a private burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boardman, Ohio. (Mahoning County)
Donations in her name may be made to the Trust Bridge Hospice or The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown OH 1105 Elm St. Youngstown OH 44505
http://www.uuyo.org/ Please visit
www.beckerobits.com to send condolences. -