Sunday, June 19, 2022
So sorry to hear about the passing of Skip. We became friends in high school in 1961. We both loved baseball and deer hunting.
We played high school ball together and loved every second of it. I would bring my own favorite bat to our games and told everyone to leave it alone. I had won a batting title with it. Skip came up to me and asked if he could use my bat. I would’ve told anyone else no, but he was one of my best friends and I told him OK. First pitch came to him and he broke my bat. I was so mad at him. I was next up to bat, picked up the bat and it had a large crack down the middle. I still swung and hit a double and the bat broke in half.
I couldn’t stay mad at Skip, he always had a big smile. We deer hunted together for years and double dated with our girlfriends every weekend. Skip became a hair stylist and had an amazing shop he ran with his once girlfriend-then wife. We both were in each others weddings. I wanted him to be my best man, but my mother wanted me to have my brother. I wish I never had. And his mother wanted him to have his brother as best man.
I became a police officer in my hometown of Freehold in 1970. I tried hard to talk Skip into becoming a cop with me, but his business was booming and he turned me down.
The last high school reunion he went to I missed. I went to all of them after that hoping to see Skip. Never happened. If you’re up there listening, I’m sorry I let you down. I should have been a closer friend and kept up with you over the years. I love you man. Ken Collins.
To Skip‘s two sons, I’m so sorry about your dad. Also my condolences to the rest of the family.
