Edie M. (Skobo) Faye, 68 of Whitmore Lake, Mich., a Blair High School alumnus, died Wednesday, Dec. 30, 1998. From complications relating to emphysema. Edie M. Skobo was born June 19, 1930, in Laurel to Ingvard and Matilda Skobo.

The family moved to Blair in 1945. She graduated from Blair High School and Dana College in Blair. She was a long-time Ann Arbor, Mich., educator and political activist. Her greatest joy came from helping those with the deepest need. In 1959, she led a picket before the Ann Arbor City Council demanding fair housing.

She was among the first educators to note that cultural differences affect the ways children learn. She taught at Perry, Forsythe and Northside Schools before becoming assistant principal at Northside. Then, she spent the rest of her education career as principal at Wines and Pittsfield Elementary Schools.

Before she moved to Whitemore Lake in 1986, she was a mover and shaker in the Washtenaw County Democratic Party, operating behind the scenes in precinct work and strategy and cooking for fund-raising events.

After her retirement, she began a second career, turning her long-time love of antiques into a business. She spent her last 10 years roving from junk shops to auctions collecting and dealing musical instruments, furniture books and artwork. She sorted books at the Friends of the Ann Arbor Public Library Book Sale, sat on the Northfield Township Tax Board and sat on the University of Michigan Housing Bureau for Seniors. She worked each summer at the information booth at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. She remained active in Democratic Party politics.

She was survived by a son, Jefferson Faye of East Lansing, Mich.; a daughter, Kirsten Young of Chicago; former husband, Gerald Faye; and three sisters, Mary Weckmuller of Blair, May Jackson of Rochester Hills, Mich., and Edna McFarlane of Savannah, Ga.

She was preceded in death by her parents.