Lucy Claiborne Ritter Skeen, Baltimore City Schools administrator known for her entertaining, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

Lucy Claiborne Ritter Skeen, a Baltimore City Schools administrator recalled as an “extraordinary entertainer,” died of cancer May 7 at Gilchrist Center Towson. The Roland Park resident was 75.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Chestnut Avenue in Towson, she was the daughter of Roy Horace Ritter, a president of engineering firm Whitman Requardt & Associates, and Mary Claiborne, the first woman admitted to the Virginia State Bar.

She was a 1967 Roland Park Country School graduate and class vice president.

She earned a history and economics degree at Hollins University in Virginia. In the summer of 1968, she went to Brazil on a missionary trip and built houses.

“She said she built houses poorly, as she told the story,” said her son Roy Skeen.

She became a Samuel Ready School history teacher, a librarian at the Church of the Redeemer and a sales clerk in Cross Keys.

In 1975, after attending the old Paralegal Institute of Philadelphia, she began work as an employee benefits paralegal at the law firm Whiteford, Taylor, and Preston. She went on to be a vice president of marketing at T. Rowe Price, the investment firm.

“She was the best friend anyone could have,” said Natalie McSherry, a friend of 40 years. “She truly lit up every room she walked into. Her personality was enormous.”

In the early 1980s, Ms. Skeen raised her family and did volunteer work with the Junior League of Baltimore and served a year as the group’s president.

She became executive director of the March of Dimes of Maryland and was later director of volunteers at the Keswick Multi-Care Center.

She went on to be a technology consultant at Roland Park Country School, among other places.

She was purchasing contract administrator for the Baltimore City School System for 11 years and retired in 2014.

While visiting cousins in Virginia one summer as a 15-year-old, she found a stack of old home decorating magazines in a basement.

“This led to her lifelong love of decorating and rearranging furniture,” said her son, Roy Skeen. “She visited fabric shops and then made curtains, and slipcovers, did needlepoint. She could also upholster at a low level.”

My mother welcomed people into the beautiful home she created with love,” said her son. “People laughed out loud recalling the times they spent there. She could lift your spirits.”

Her son described her as the family chairwoman of entertainment.

“Every Thanksgiving had a theme that cousins, aunts, and uncles alike would dress for, from Ravens attire to Norman Rockwell,” he said. “In the summertime the family would go to the beach and my mom would organize talent shows. She taught her children to do their best and be fearless on stage.”

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“She had an incredible spirit and was an extraordinary entertainer,” said Marietta Koch Nolley, a longtime friend. “She threw fabulous parties that often had a theme — an animal house party or a best husband party.”

“She knew so many people and her party guest list reflected on the theme of the party,” Ms. Nolley said. “The parties were not dependent on food or drink. The parties were an extension of her personality and exuberance.”

“She always stressed the importance of writing thank-you notes,” her son said. “She posted all the photographs of family and friends in the kitchen. It became something of a competition to get on Mama Skeen’s wall.”

For her 40th birthday she created a girl group with Ms. Skeen as the lead singer of the ensemble, Lucille and the Dreamettes.

Ms. Skeen became an avid gardener and filled her day working with plants.

Survivors include her husband of 45 years, David Skeen, a retired maritime attorney; daughters, Talli Oxnam, of Easton, and Marietta Skeen, of Shelbourne, Massachusetts; two sons, David Skeen, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Roy Skeen, of Baltimore; and 11 grandchildren.

A funeral was held Wednesday at St. David’s Episcopal Church.