Skinner, Aubrey E.

Born in Vernon, Texas, on March 19, 1928, Aubrey Eugene Skinner was the first son of Hosea Emmitt and Johnnie Vera (Barnes) Skinner. Growing up in Kilgore, Texas, Skinner graduated from Kilgore High School in 1945. He graduated a co-valedictorian from Kilgore Junior College, with an Associate of Arts degree in chemistry, May 1947. He completed his undergraduate education at North Texas State College, September 1948 through August 1951, with a Bachelor of Arts in library science. From September 1951 until his death on July 6, 1985, Skinner was employed as the librarian at the Mallet Chemistry Library at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned a Master of Library Science degree in 1977. In addition to his love of librarianship, his interests included rare books, fifteenth century printing, Texas library history, Texas local and regional history, Christian thought, and literature. He authored two published books: Rowena Country, 1973, and Texas Library History: A Bibliography, 1983; and edited Frank Kaiser's Reminiscences of a Texas Ranger, 1967. Skinner also wrote over thirty articles and reviewed books for scholarly journals.