She was born June 25, 1944, in Pittsburg, the daughter of William and Betty Jo (Coulter) Haile. She graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 1962.

She graduated from Baker University in 1966 with a degree in elementary education. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority at Baker.

Mrs. Skridulis taught first and second grade in Kansas after graduation. She then moved to Houston, where she met her husband. They then moved to Storrs, Conn., where she taught preschool. She continued teaching elementary school when she moved to Maryland, New Hampshire and to Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, she taught English as a second language at North Campus School. After returning to the United States, she moved to Gaithersburg, Md. In 1985, she returned to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies at the University of Maryland. She work at Shea and Gardner in Washington, D.C., until the family moved to eastern Germany in 1991.

When she moved back to the United States a second time, the family relocated to Lawrence. She worked at the public defender’s office and at Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit. She then worked for the Public Interest Litigation Clinic, an entity that defends death-row inmates. She became an outspoken opponent of the death penalty.

Mrs. Skridulis was a member of and a former elder at First Presbyterian Church, Lawrence. She was also a member of P.E.O. Sisterhood, Lawrence.

She married Jim Skridulis on Aug. 9, 1969, in Houston. He survives of the home.

Other survivors include a son, Kevin Skridulis, Overland Park; a daughter, Jenny Vellon, Lawrence; a sister, Judy Haile, Rhome, Tex.; and her mother, Lawrence.

The family suggests memorials to Hospice Care of Douglas County or to the First Presbyterian Church Peace Garden Fund, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.