2 p.m. Wednesday (AP) – Funeral services have been announced for former Missouri congressman Ike Skelton.

The Walker-Nadler-Fuller Funeral Home says visitation is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday in Grondyke Hall at Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington.

Skelton’s funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Wikoff Hall, also on the Wentworth campus. A burial service with military rites is to occur at the Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington.

Skelton died this past Monday of complications from pneumonia at a hospital in Virginia. He was 81.

Skelton served in the U.S. House for 34 years before losing re-election in 2010. He never served in the military but was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a staunch advocate for the armed forces.

 

7 p.m. Tuesday (AP) – A funeral home in Ike Skelton’s hometown says the former 17-term Missouri congressman died of complications from pneumonia.

Nadler-Fuller Funeral Home in Lexington included the cause of death in a preliminary obituary Tuesday.

Skelton died Monday at the age of 81 in a Virginia hospital surrounded by his wife, his sons and their families. Also present was his longtime friend and colleague Russell Orban, who said Skelton had entered the hospital a week earlier with a bad cough.

Skelton, a Democrat, served 34 years in the U.S. House before losing in 2010 to Republican Vicky Hartzler in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. He had practiced law since then in Missouri and Washington, D.C., and had homes in Lexington and McLean, Va.

Family members are planning a memorial service in Lexington.

 

Monday p.m.  (AP) – Former Missouri Congressman Ike Skelton, a champion of the military who served 17 terms in the U.S. House before losing a re-election bid in 2010, has died. He was 81.

Skelton died Monday at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., surrounded by family and friends, including longtime colleague Russell Orban.

The cause was not immediately released, but Orban says Skelton entered the hospital a week earlier with a cough. Oban confirmed Skelton’s death to The Associated Press.

The Lexington, Mo., native was a Democrat and former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Skelton lost to Republican Vicky Hartzler in 2010 in western Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. He then joined the law firm of Kansas City-based Husch Blackwell, working in its offices in Kansas City and Washington.