Robert Sheskey’s Community Spirit Lives on at the Food Cupboard
from 2009 SAGA
NHS Spotlight: Robert Sheskey
Robert Sheskey was a familiar face in the halls of Nelsonville High
School, on the football field, basketball court, and baseball diamond. He was admired and respected as a teacher,
coach, and colleague.
Mr. Sheskey graduated from Buchtel High School in 1943 and entered the
service during World War II. He served
in the CBI Theatre as combat engineer building bridges in Burma.
After being discharged from the Army he attended Ohio University on the
G.I. Bill and majored in Physical Education with a minor in American History. When we sat down with Mr. Sheskey to talk
about his lifelong career in education he revealed that he actually began
teaching in South Bloomingville, Ohio; then on to Jacksonville-Trimble for five
years before his long career at Nelsonville.
He was quick to mention the many marvelous teachers at N.H.S. that he
was fortunate to teach with, among them, Mary Sharp, John Daughtery, the
Hoffees, Monica Stedem, Kathleen Hartley, Helen Washburn, Roger and Louise
Wolf, and countless others. He also
admired Jim Standall, Pres Dexter, and John Clouston, our bus drivers and
custodians who took such pride in caring for our school buildings, grounds and
students.
Mr. Sheskey followed in the footsteps of Lowell Cole as “Coach”.
He was varsity football, basketball, baseball, and golf coach at
Nelsonville High School during some portion of his long career in the sporting
arena. Coach Sheskey stated that many
great athletes came through his hands while he was coach and many were
fortunate to earn athletic scholarships to area colleges. When we spoke with some former N.H.S.
athletes they stated that Coach Sheskey went above and beyond what was normal
in those days to alert college coaches and scouts about the athletic and
scholastic abilities of his players.
Sheskey provided films, made phone calls, and arranged visits for
students to interested colleges and universities. Sheskey was often seen munching his way
through a bag of popcorn but his true passion and inspiration were the young
athletes he was empowered to guide.
“Our big rival in basketball was Athens; we only lost two games in the
Southeastern Ohio Conference play during our ’64 season,” remarked
Sheskey. Both of those losses were to
Athens. The coach stated that hard work,
great effort, and team play were always the aspects he stressed to all the
young men that he was fortunate to coach throughout his career. He gave much credit to the success of his
teams to assistant coaches, recalling such names as Bob Penrod, Phil Fawcett,
Ed Keating, Jack Sowers, and Barney Andrews.
When pressed to name or list the most memorable coaching or teaching
event in his career, he laughed at the thought and said there were too many to
single anything out.
Mr. Sheskey was named Principal of the newly created high school in
1969, the second year of the consolidation. He served in that capacity until his
retirement in 1983, ending his thirty-three year career. He was responsible for helping shape our youthful
endeavors during those formidable teenage years and we are sure that some of us
challenged him in that respect.
Mr. Sheskey was responsible for the summer athletic program and our city
swimming pool between 1956 and 1966 and served on Nelsonville City Council in
the 1970’s. Like a number of our
teachers and leaders he wore many hats.
After his official retirement, he his wife Joanne turned their attention
to feeding the hungry in our small community.
Mr. Sheskey had witnessed, first hand, hungry school children and Mrs.
Sheskey’s career in social work had provided evidence that there was a real
need to provide food for the hungry. For
eleven years they spearheaded the Nelsonville
Soup Kitchen, which was a collaborative effort among our community churches. Bob and Joanne helped administer, shop, cook,
serve, and do dishes for this worthwhile endeavor. They have also worked for over twenty years
at the Nelsonville Food Cupboard/Pantry, a satellite of the Southeastern Ohio
Regional Food Bank/Feeding America. As we prepare for some tough times Mr.
Sheskey continues to lend his hand to this worthwhile project. We are inspired by his spirit of caring for
his neighbor and ours.
