Virginia Louise Skowronek

Virginia Louise (Lyle) Skowronek, born to Roy Asbury and Alma Vivien(Keeler) Lyle in Abilene, Texas, on December 5, 1921, and died on September 3, 2013. In college, Virginia was a Cheer Leader. At the age of 18 she was elected Miss Brownwood. Early in World War II she married US Army Cavalry 2nd LT. Paul George Skowronek at Camp Bowie, Texas. They spent the next 30 years together on military assignments that took them to Panama, Germany, and Bulgaria, as well as many Army posts from California to New York. During her life as an Army wife she enjoyed many fascinating recreational and official opportunities. She became a licensed airplane pilot, rode horses with her Cavalry husband at Army posts, skied the Alps in Bavaria, played excellent tennis and was a charming hostess for their formal Military/Diplomatic entertainment in Berlin and Potsdam, Germany, as well as in Sofia, Bulgaria. She and her husband were guests of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. Her life was filled with memorable activities and events. When her husband, Colonel Skowronek, retired from the US Army in 1971. She accompanied him to England where he attended Oxford University, followed by Doctoral studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado. Their only child, Patricia, who had attended High School in England and graduated from Arizona State University, predeceased them in 2008. Virginia is survived by her husband, Colonel Paul G. Skowronek. Mrs. Skowronek wished to be cremated, and will be inurned in the Columbarium in the Old Cadet Chapel at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.