Remembering Ryan Skipper One Month After His Murder
Vigils will be held around the state of Florida and in Washington tomorrow to remember Ryan Keith Skipper.
Ryan was brutally murdered one month ago — stabbed 20 times, his body tossed on the side of the road. In life, Ryan was an open, fun, caring young man with enough energy to manage a retail store full-time while pursuing a degree in computer technology and fixing computers for his many, many friends on the side.
He was also gay. And this last fact is likely the reason Ryan was killed.
The vigils are not, as their organizers remind us, a time to protest. They are instead a time to honor Ryan’s life, which his friends and family are determined to remember for more than its end. I recently talked to Ryan’s brother, Damien Skipper, to find out what the handsome and friendly 25-year-old was like.
“We grew up between Auburndale and Winter Haven. We were both born in Winter Haven Hospital…and we lived in Polk County our whole lives until I went away to college.
Ryan stayed in Polk County and he’s gone to school. He went to Polk Community [College] for awhile and basically he’s carried a job since he graduated from high school. All of his friends are there and I tried a few to get him to move out of Polk County, just because of — not that I ever conceived or could conceive something like this happening — but I just told him that I thought it would be nicer if he lived in a metro area.
Ryan was a handsome and intelligent young man and he’s incredibly honest and he is a true friend to anyone who knew him and I’ll stick with the cliche that everyone has been saying, which is that if you knew Ryan you loved him. He was just that type of person. I don’t think there’s anything in his past that anyone would ever be ashamed of. Ryan, just like all of us, was imperfect. That doesn’t mean anything negative, it just means that we can all strive for perfection but none of us will reach it.
And so I remember Ryan as…I said this at his eulogy. I remember going to the hospital with my father and seeing Ryan and just knowing from that day that he’s my little brother. I’m his big brother and it’s my duty to kind of show him the ropes and protect him and just, you know, make sure that he lived a great life. And he did.
And it’s unfortunate that someone decided they could take that away from us, take that away from him.
Two men were arrested for Ryan’s murder, which is being investigated as a hate crime. They are jailed without bond, and will be until their trials.
Tomorrow we will remember Ryan, a brother and son, friend and student and coworker, who was taken from us. If we protest tomorrow, let it be against hate and intolerance, violence and ignorance, savagery and loss.