Skippy Noland Fund

How the “Skippy Noland” Campership Fund Happened

​My friend, Frank Stevens, and I were members of St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC during our high school years in the late 1950s.  We were very active in “Luther League” and the choir together.  Every summer, we went to Camp Lutheridge in North Carolina for music camp and we always took for granted that our church was paying our way.  Frank found out about ten years ago that our church was not paying his registration fee, but it was being paid by a fellow church member, Kenneth Hauck.  Kenneth was a little older than we were and had a job, so he secretly paid Frank’s way to camp.

​Frank decided to return the favor and started the campership fund at Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center.  We decided to name this campership after a friend.  We had a good friend in our “Luther League” group whose name was Skippy Noland.  While in high school, Skippy contracted a rare unknown disease – the disease was like a polio that attacked Skippy’s nervous system more than his muscle system.  One day, while Skippy was at the beach with his mom and dad – he started walking toward the water and he suddenly fell flat on face in the soft sand.  If his mom and dad had not pulled his face out of the mud, he might have suffocated.  After that, he lost all control of his ability to use his limbs.  His hands and face were swollen most of the time.  He could still talk and he continued to go to high school with a special telephone hook-up from his bedroom to his school.  Skippy graduated from Rivers High School in Charleston, SC – the last 3 high school years in his bedroom.  He entered the Church Triumphant before his 20th birthday.

Skippy was a big boy for his age, and he loved playing with the younger kids in our Sunday school.  He always had a smile on his face and his outgoing happiness was catching.  He had decided at an early age that he wanted to become a pastor in the Lutheran Church.  Frank and I believe that naming this campership fund in Skippy’s memory is very appropriate for the kind of person Skippy was.