Howard and Lois Skidmore Scholarship

Established by Captain, USN, Howard, and Lois Skidmore to assist Eastern Illinois University students in their educational pursuits. For a graduate of Villa Grove High School, Villa Grove, Illinois who has participated in athletics while in high school.
US Navy Capt. Howard Skidmore (ret.) Grew up in Villa Grove and played basketball at EIU before withdrawing during the term he was to graduate to join the Navy. He spent 3½ years at the university. He piloted an aircraft from the USS Santee and USS Cabot carriers in the Pacific during WWII. How flew 55 combat missions and was awarded a Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross, among other commendations/medals. He also served as the head of special projects for Naval Intelligence at the Pentagon after the war. He was the senior military attache at the US Embassy in Denmark and an Air Boss for the carrier that recovered astronaut Alan Shepard – the first American to travel into space – as, well as the space capsule after its splashdown at sea.