Skip Stuck is a “people person.” Happily retired and proudly married for 52 years, he loves his family and feels fortunate that the geographic proximity of his children and grandchildren allows him to routinely spend time with them. He thrives on engagement with others, and it’s important to him to contribute to the world around him. He enjoys learning and doing new things, and finds that volunteering offers just the right balance of responsibility and flexibility in his retirement. He also loves everything about being outdoors - gardening, hiking, fishing, and hunting, to name a few. Shortly after retiring, while rehabbing an injured knee hiking in the woods, he happened upon a Wildlands Trust property. He followed up with a visit to the office and an offer to help, and he’s been a regular presence ever since! A self-described “handyman,” Skip loves carpentry, and often helps with building benches, kiosks and gates for Wildlands’ properties. He also enjoys leading hikes and working with the stewardship team to create, maintain, and monitor trails. Throughout the pandemic challenges of the last few years, he has enjoyed meeting and talking with people on the trails, and has been inspired by the number of parents with young children getting outside and enjoying the preserves. Skip spends a lot of time at Great Neck Preserve, where the relationships he’s developed with neighbors and frequent trail users facilitates his role as the Adopt-a-Preserve volunteer there. He truly enjoys everyone in the Wildlands community, and appreciates the organization’s multifaceted mission, which prioritizes both land preservation and outdoor recreational opportunities. When he’s not at Wildlands, Skip loves to spend time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and on Cuttyhunk Island, where he’s vacationed with family and friends for the last 26 years. This summer, after a three-year Covid delay, he also hopes to complete a planned hiking trip in England and a fishing trip to Alaska with his son.
In 2015, Skip retired from a 45 year career in child welfare and mental health services. He spent many years working at the Child Welfare League of America before running a large mental health and family service agency for the last ten years of his career. In addition to his contributions to Wildlands Trust, Skip is also a regular volunteer at a local food pantry.
