Charles Paul Skoda, 76, passed away at his home on Saturday, April 20, 2013, after a 14-month struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was with his three children and wife, Adele. Known to his childhood friends as "Skipps," Paul lived the first 20 years of his life in Kenya, East Africa. He attended Rift Valley Academy there and developed a close affinity with its land and people. He later attended Trinity Seminary in Deerfield, Ill., and worked for the "New York Times Chicago Bureau" and the "Chicago Daily News." He then served honorably in the United States Army as a journalist. Returning from his station in Frankfurt, Germany, he attended and graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead while working for NBC affiliate WDAY in Fargo, ND. After beginning his family, he completed graduate work in African Studies at UCLA while working for Aetna, and then moved to Santa Barbara, California, where he was administrator for Archibald and Spray Attorneys at Law. He remained in the area for 23 years, and then moved to Albany, Oregon, to become co-owner and general manager of Cascade Earth Sciences.