A former Moose Jaw MP and MLA is being remembered as a dedicated worker and a persistent fighter willing to stand up for the working class.
John Skoberg, who served at various times on city council, in the provincial legislature and the House of Commons, died Sunday in Cranbrook, B.C., following a battle with dementia. He was 86.
Former premier Lorne Calvert recalled Skoberg as “always a tenacious fighter, for the things in which he believed, and tenacious in his love for Moose Jaw and the community.”
Calvert, speaking to the Times-Herald on Friday, also said that Skoberg was influential in his own decision to enter politics in the mid-1980s.
“You never had trouble wondering what John thought about an issue,” he said, describing him as “a great defender of the rights of working people.”
Skoberg’s wife of 63 years, Margaret, told the Times-Herald on Friday that her husband had remained physically well despite the onset of dementia.
Even in recent years, she said, he had continued clearing the sidewalk and mowing the grass. He had spent the last five weeks in a care home and was surrounded by his family when he died on Sunday.
“He was ready to go,” she said, while their daughter Diane added the family was relieved to see him pass on.
For more information, check out Saturday's edition of the Times-Herald.
