From Loss to legacy

Every summer, friends and family of Jonathan Skinner gather at Winston Lake Golf Course to raise money for a worthy cause: college scholarships for deserving high school seniors in Forsyth County.

It’s how Linwood and Claudia Skinner choose to carry on the legacy of their youngest son, a former R.J. Reynolds High School basketball star tragically killed during a home invasion in Durham more than a decade ago. Proceeds from the golf tournament go to the Jonathan LaRon Skinner Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Just 26 years old at the time of his death in 2005, Jonathan was one semester shy of graduating from St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh. The young man who received numerous athletic awards during his high school days, including Co-Player of the Year in the Central Piedmont Conference, was planning to become a physical education teacher.