Skillin's "Basics"

Hello again,

It is a New Year and many of our electronic subscribers might be fairly new to
Skillin's so I quickly want to review Skillin's history. This post was first sent out as email on January 16,2006 and repeated again on January 11,2007. So for some of you who have read this before I apologize but we will be quickly onto new things. For the moment however I would like to review our history and give credit to a few people who made Skillin's what it is today!

As you may or may not know we have been a family enterprise since 1885. We
currently are in our 5th generation of Skillin's. Alexander "Pa" Skillin and
his brother Charles founded Skillin's way back in 1885. At that time,
Skillin's mostly catered to the crowd of people who populated Falmouth and
other area estates in the summer. We sold our summer friends fresh cut
flowers, garden plants, vegetables and knowing "Pa" we gave away lots of
free stories. The business was indeed on the present Route 88 site in
Falmouth. Charles soon drifted away to other pursuits but "Pa" stayed at it.
I am not sure what he did year round but I do know he spent many nights
shoveling coal into the furnace to keep the cold at bay.

Through the early 20th century the business grew as year round population
started to become more and more common. By this time, Skillin's was doing
much yard and tree work for people and "Pa" had been joined by his son
Alexander or "Alec". My Aunt Sally fondly remembers "Alec" as the nicest man
she has ever met (not bad considering he was her father in law). The
business was growing into the year round selling of plants and we were also
becoming a florist; my Aunt Florence (Alec's sister and daughter of "Pa")
helped in the greenhouse and floral areas and also did the bookkeeping.

Aunt Florence had no children but Alec fathered John and David Skillin--the
third generation--and many of you might know of them today. Tragedy struck
in 1950 as Alec died of cancer. "Pa" was getting along in years (but still
working, only taking less naps), John was attending college at UMO, and
David was only 13. The decision was made for John to come home on weekends
and work but for him to finish his education, for Dave to hopefully "turn
out all right" and for Aunt Florence to "hang on" and wait for John. Aunt
Florence was one brave lady and her contribution to Skillin's should never
be forgotten.

John arrived on the scene fully in the spring of 1952 and the business was
in tough shape. Alive but hurting. Times were tough and Skillin's owed many
people a lot of money. Good and wise friends who knew finances were telling
John and his family to give up the business--it could not work. John went
around and promised to make good and then some on what was owed. If you ever
knew John Skillin, you would trust him and believe him. Because he was John.
He delivered.

Dave Skillin arrived from the UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture and a
bout with the U.S. Navy in 1960. Aunt Florence was still on board. Larry
Leeman, a trusted family friend, also came on board. "Pa" died in 1958 but
momentum was strong--the Skillin's modern era had begun. John and Dave were
young, personable, visionary and absolutely dedicated. Skillin's as you know
it now was beginning to form. John and Dave used to visit many Massachusetts
and Connecticut garden centers on trips to pick up the best in plant
material. I have good memories of those trips as a child. They borrowed many
good ideas and came up with a few of their own and developed Maine's first
garden center and nursery. By 1966, our Falmouth gift shop was built with
the help of good friend Fred Chase. Skillin's Greenhouses was now a full
scale greenhouse, nursery, garden center, gift shop and florist.

Skillin's was also one of the leading landscapers at the time. Dave Skillin
headed this area of the business along with trusted and important friends
like Al Lappin. Terry Skillin--the leader of the fourth generation--and Joel
Leeman, still with Skillin's after 40 plus years got their start with
Skillin's as landscapers. But Dave and John wanted to start a new store and
make new friends, and this led to our opening of our second store in
Brunswick Maine in 1969. The landscaping side was eventually closed as we
focused on making Skillin's in Falmouth and Brunswick the type of stores you
see today. John and Jeff Skillin built energy efficient true Solar
greenhouses during the energy crisis days of the 1970's.

The early days were kind of quiet at times in Brunswick as Dave would often
mow the lawn in the front just to let people know that we were there. Long
days and nights were spent selling apples, cider and peanut butter at the
Topsham Fair just so we could meet people. But as the greater
Bath/Brunswick/Topsham area has grown so has Skillin's in Brunswick. Gordon
Merrill and many others have picked up the baton from Dave Skillin and we
have a first rate store and a first rate staff with people like Charley
Madden and Chris Gill from our past leading to Hilda Green, Ed Levay and Darcy Sachs along with many others who are part of our
present and future. And Gordon Merrill deserves special mention again--his
dedication over the years has paid off in a model operation at Skillin's in Brunswick.

During the 70's and 80's we had 3 successful Mall stores at the Maine Mall,
Promenade Mall in Lewiston, and the Windham Mall. Terry Skillin (fourth
generation) came on board to lead our Mall store effort. Jeff Skillin, his
brother, graduated from UMass Stockbridge School of Agriculture in 1980 and
has modernized our all important plant production. Terry and Jeff are sons
of John and now lead the business.

Back in Falmouth, we salute the efforts of good friends like Larry Leeman, Rick Price, Al Lappin, Jesse O'Brien, LaurieJameson and many others who have helped us greatly and who we will always begrateful to. Mary Mixer came to Skillin's via the Maine Mall in 1975 and is
still our hardest working person here. Sally Bolstridge, Tim Bate, Sue
Destefano and Elaine Warner are here daily and offer over 50 years of
experience between them to help our customers. Rick Price just completed
another year of helping us--he has been part of the family since the 1960's.
Melissa Skillin Smith and Mike Skillin are Dave Skillin's children and we
try to help wherever we can! And Dave Skillin is still very active in the
business after almost 50 years of leadership here!

John Skillin passed away in 2002 but he has touched us all. That same year
saw the arrival of the 5th generation, Chad Skillin (Terry's son) who like
his grandfather John graduated from UMO; with a degree in landscape design
and he has brought a new angle to Skillin's.

In 2003, we combined forces with the Allen Family in Cumberland and now
operate Skillin's Cumberland. Phil Allen has passed away but his wife Wendi
works with us and she has become a valued and trusted friend.

We all work hard here at Skillin's and we love it. But without the support
of our families at home we could not so easily do our jobs.

We owe a special and biggest thanks to you, our customer. I have listed a
lot of names and dates here but your loyalty has kept us going over good
times and bad. We cannot wait for 2008 and are looking forward to seeing you.

Thanks for reading this and please let us know if you have any gardening
questions,

Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
January 30, 2008