John "Skip" Graham
12-09-1961 - 03-11-2026
I first met Skip when I was 13. I was working my first job at Schroeder's Music Store. We both shared a love of music and guitars. We were just starting our "garage band" phase, which eventually turned into playing in real bands and small gigs that sometimes paid us. By the time we were 15 or so, we were both in working bands and would occasionally get to see each other play. His first official band was "Night Crew" with Carl Brown, Mark Vaquer, Dave Curry, and David Steinhauser. Later, Carl and Skip joined "Five Miles High", which was a pretty big regional act. After several years on the road, Skip settled back home and joined Billy Murphy, Mark Vaquer, and me in a group called "Breeze". Billy left, and Tim Anderson joined to mold a new band, "The Jetsons," in a slightly different direction, plus we had really good-paying house gigs. Skip eventually moved on to a real career but kept playing with bands like "The Turbo Brothers", "The Rogues", and "The Classics". He began taking his keyboard chops more seriously and took lessons from two of Savannah's finest musicians: Kenny Palmer and Joe Jones. Skip would frequent the local jazz club "Hard-Hearted Hannah's" and sit in with Joe, Ben Tucker, Eric Vaughn, Randy Reese, and many other true jazz stars that played there. He and I were also founding members of the "Otis Brothers," an 18-piece horn band fronted by Thad Stickand. We only played 2 jobs as benefits, and the club paid us in beer! (I think they may have lost money). Around 2000, Skip, Tony Arata, and I got to work with a talented young lady (Kristina Train). She has since played with some of the biggest names in the music world, including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Tal Wilkenfeld.
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Skip is probably one of the most talented musicians I have ever had the privilege to work with and, without a doubt, one of the finest to ever hail from Savannah, and the world needs to know.​
Phil Hadaway
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Skip's Story
by: Sara Graham
In 2016, Skip and I set out on an adventure to move to Palm Harbor, Florida, to escape the snow in Denver. We sold our house, planned our move, and rented a VRBO for 3 months so we could find jobs, buy another house, and settle into our warmer life by the beach. 3 months later, we hadn't found jobs yet, and Skip wasn't feeling well, so we rented a little villa to move into. On the day we moved into the villa, he felt like he was coming down with the flu. I set up the bed and tucked him in, then went to unpack all of our stuff. 11 days later, he was still down for the count, couldn't get out of bed, barely made it to the bathroom, and was throwing up bile. Clearly, something was wrong. I finally got him to go to the hospital. One step at a time to get to the car. Stand up, take three steps, sit down on a chair…through the house…out to the garage, and finally into the car. 8 days in the hospital, seemingly feeling a bit better, Dr. Hopman came around the corner in the hospital room and sat down. An out-of-body experience, as we heard her say, "You have cancer, and we need to do chemo treatments as soon as possible." We both froze, no health insurance, how can this happen, what are we going to do??? Not 10 minutes later, Jennifer Scrivens came around the corner and said, "I understand you might need some financial help to pay for your hospital stay and chemo. I think I can help." She explained the hospital charity that could help with all of the bills. God at work!
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We started the chemo treatments. It was supposed to be 8 of them…once every 3 weeks. He made it through 5 treatments. We came home for Thanksgiving, and on the drive back, he said he really didn't feel well. When we got home, he climbed into bed, but by 9:30pm he woke me up, shaking with a fever. I knew what this was immediately after all of the hours spent researching. SEPSIS. I rushed him to the ER, got him in the door, and explained the situation. He was in a room with antibiotics pumping through his veins in a matter of minutes. After 11 days in the ICU, he was finally able to come home.
A few days later, he couldn't breathe…back to the hospital. They couldn't figure out what was causing the problem. Finally, a scan of his chest showed fluid on his heart. The doctor rushed into the room and said, " We need to move him now to the heart hospital. He needs a pericardial window, and we don't do that here. An ambulance will take him about 30 minutes south to do the surgery. On Christmas Eve, he came home. The worst part of that day was that, as I was going to pick him up in the afternoon to bring him home, our beloved dachshund, Sam, had to be put down, and Skip didn't get to say goodbye. The surgery was a success, and little by little, he was feeling better. We would come back to Savannah to visit friends and family, and his spirit would light up. Then we would go home, and he would be depressed. I decided to move him back to Savannah to be around family and make the most of the time we had.
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He got better! He got a job, played music, we bought a house, and he was thriving. The doctors in Florida gave him a 3-year possibility. 10 years later…here we are. We have been so blessed with financial help with hospital bills, grants for medications, great healthcare, and more.
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Here's where the story hits a brick wall. Skip now has Lymphoplasmacytic Lymphoma (original diagnosis), Prostate Cancer (diagnosed in 2024), basal cell carcinoma (diagnosed last summer), CKD 5 Kidney failure (diagnosed June 2025), Calcium deposits in his heart (2026), and Multiple Myeloma (2026). He thought he had pneumonia in January, only to find out it was actually a reaction to the Gazyva cancer treatment he went through in November last year. They call it Pneumonitis due to monoclonal antibodies. He spent 26 days in the hospital between January 12th and February 20th. At that point, we made the decision to come home to hospice care. ​
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Skip passed away March 11th, at home surrounded by his family.
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Sara
We Need Your Help
We have exhausted all medical and insurance avenues for additional funding. We are asking for any financial help you can provide. No amount is too small. Thank you in advance for any help as we move forward.
How Do I Help?
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