14 Toombs County Magazine
“I was fortunate to get a position
with the Proctors in Zurich,
Switzerland, caring for their four
young daughters,” said Lynn. “I had
not met them before I arrived. We had
only communicated by letter. When
they picked me up from the train
station, the first thing Ms. Proctor said
was, ‘We are so excited that you're
here because our friend’s college age
boys will also be here for the summer.
We can't wait for you to meet them.’”
Since they were the only two
American families living in that
particular area at the time, the
Proctors and the Skinners spent a
lot of time together. But Ms. Proctor’s
excitement was not shared by her
children’s new American guardian.
“It was the same thing I’d heard
every year when I traveled with my
grandmother,” said Lynn. “We stayed
at the same place and saw the same
families year after year. Every summer
someone wanted to set me up with
someone they knew. I thought, ‘I
couldn’t believe I’ve come all the way
across the ocean to hear the same
thing again.’” Only this time, it was
different. This time the young man
was Sterling (Skip) Skinner. Four
years later, the two married. It’s safe
to say that Lynn forgave Ms. Proctor
for playing matchmaker.
After one year of teaching school,
her teaching career became a fulltime
career of teaching as a mother. “I feel
like I have always been teaching in
one way or another,” she said, smiling.
Like the best of teachers, Lynn crafted
her lessons with stories. And even
after her three children were grown
and on their own, conversations
with friends somehow turned to
storytelling.
Some of my friends in Wisconsin,
where they lived at the time,
suggested she should put her stories
into writing. “I didn't think too much
about it at first,” said Lynn. It wasn’t
When Lynn was a child, she often
traveled with her grandmother Flora
Snooks. Flora's family was from Ailey
and she and her sisters founded the
Ailey Garden Club, which is one of the
oldest in the country.