Myrtle Skaggs Fiore, the eldest of 5 siblings from the marriage of Mert Charles Skaggs and Artie Rumbaugh died peacefully in her 100 ^th year at the shrine of our Lady of Snows in Belleville, IL on March 2, 2020.

Myrtle was born on November 13, 1919 in Bloodland, Missouri now part of Ft. Leonard Wood and moved to Crocker, Missouri in 1922.   She was a graduate of Crocker High School Class of 1937 and attended Iberia Junior College and the University of Missouri.

Always with a taste for the new and adventurous, in 1941 she accepted work that took her to South and Central America for 2 years.

She moved back to Crocker and taught at the Bloodland Grade School and following completion of the academic year in 1944 accepted an administrative job in supply at Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri.  There she met her future husband, Peter P. Fiore, M.D. a battalion surgeon and native New Yorker who had just returned from Europe to care for returning Missouri veterans. He trying to furnish his operating room and she trying to conserve post war government spending, they finally came to common ground at the Houston House Restaurant in Newburg, Missouri.   Married in St. Louis on Oct. 20, 1947, they lived 56 years in Brooklyn, New York where she raised 3 children Andrew, married to Lee, of St. Louis, Gay Hartigan, married to William (deceased) of Park Ridge, NJ and Peter, married to Madelyn, of Belleville, IL.

Myrtle bonded well with her New York Italian family and quickly fell in love with New York City with all its challenges and amenities. She became quite versed in the New York art scene as a long-time member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art as well as many other museums and galleries.  She and her husband became ardent collectors.

Although she often said, "I moved from the smallest town to the biggest", she never forgot her roots.  She remained very close to her Crocker grade and high school best friends, Christina Peterson and Hannah Elliott. Hannah followed Myrtle's path after the war and lived in Manhattan. They all remained lifelong friends.

Every August, she returned to Crocker, Missouri with her husband and children to enjoy the beautiful Ozarks with her parents, family, and childhood friends.

Like her father, she was always outgoing, energetic, and very humorous.

Myrtle was a beacon, role model, confidant, and strong supporter of many women with breast cancer having been a lifetime survivor of the disease herself.

She was blessed with five nieces and four nephews and six grandchildren:  Risa Shoup, Peter Fiore III, Nicholas Fiore, Meryl Fiore, Michael Fiore and Patrick Fiore who predeceased her.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Mert and Artie Skaggs and her 4 siblings: Richard Skaggs and Charles Jack Skaggs of Crocker, Missouri, Bonnie Lee Kamins of Alexandria, Virginia and Marian Gay Newcomb of Crocker, Missouri. She will be remembered always as a loving wife, a caring mother, and a very fine woman.

A graveside service will be held for Mrs. Fiore at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 19, 2021 in the Crocker Cemetery, Crocker, Missouri