Funeral service for CW4 (Retired) John P. Sklaney, Jr., will be at 9:30 am Monday, July 24, 2017 in the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home Chapel with Deacon David Bunch, Holy Family Catholic Church, Lawton officiating.

Burial with full military honors will be in Fort Sill National Cemetery, Elgin, OK.

The family will greet friends Sunday evening from 6pm until 8pm at the funeral home.

CW4 (Retired) John P. Sklaney, Jr. passed away Sunday, July 16, 2017 at his home surrounded by his family, after a courageous battle with Pleural Mesothelioma.  He was born June 5, 1947 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania to John Sklaney, Sr. and Claire (Sharpe) Sklaney.  He married Susan Yacuboski of Glen Lyon, PA on June 25, 1966.  He was drafted into the U.S. Army and served during the Vietnam War with the 1 ^st Cavalry Division.  He returned home from Vietnam and decided to make a career out of the Army, bettering both himself and his family.  He became a Warrant Officer in the 1970's, specializing in nuclear power generation and was a qualified nuclear power plant shift operator before the U.S. Army closed down its nuclear power plants in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  He also served in the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991 with the 299 ^th Engineer Battalion, where his unit supported the 24 ^th Infantry Division.  He perfected his hunting techniques during his three tours at Fort Greely, Alaska, where he was able to hunt Grizzly and Brown bears, moose, caribou, mountain goats, Dall sheep, geese, ducks and other small game.  He was also an avid fisherman and loved to pass on that knowledge to anyone that he met during his hunting or fishing trips.  He especially loved hunting and fishing with his grandchildren, taking them on numerous hunting and fishing trips.  His greatest joy was seeing the excitement in his grandchildren's eyes during their time spent together hunting and fishing.  He worked at Goodyear Tire Company in Lawton, OK for more than 16 years before retiring a second time.  At his retirement, the human resource manager commented on how, even though he had only worked at Goodyear for a little more than a decade and a half, he had accrued more than 34 years of work time with all of his overtime calculated on his retirement.

Survivors include his wife, Susan Sklaney of Lawton, OK, daughter, Kim and husband, Wes Seaton of Madison, AL, his son, John Sklaney, III and his wife, Natalie of Norman, OK, three grandsons, Nicholas Landreth, Joey Sklaney and Jared Sklaney, his two granddaughters, Abigail Seaton and Haley Seaton, his wife's sisters, Margaret and husband Ronald Womelsdorf of Sheatown, PA, Doreen Malott of Yorkana, PA, and John's sisters, Fran Ryan of Edwardsville, PA and Dolores and husband, Tommy Bogacki of Wilkes-Barre, PA.

He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Claire Sklaney, his brother, Jimmy Sklaney and his wife Susan's parents, John and Tekla Yacuboski.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 53465, Oklahoma City, OK  73152 or to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS  66675-8517