Paul Winkler Jr.'s Obituary
Born January 21, 1926 in Houston, TX and passed away June 3, 2015 in Mesquite, TX. Preceded in death by parents Ruby and Paul Winkler, Sr., brother Wendell Winkler. Paul is survived by wife of 64 years, Mary Lou Winkler, daughter Mary Ann Lowry, daughter Donna Smith and husband Phil, and son Tom Winkler and wife Sharon; grandchildren Brent Lowry, Ross Lowry, Ryan Smith, Jenna Gibson, Kristina Smith, Becca Winkler, Thomas Winkler; great grandchildren Latham and Lily, and Maisy and Adalynn. Paul, “Daddy,” “Papa,” was a great man of God, family man, business man and sports fan. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, TX in 1944. He then entered the US Army, serving in the Air Branch as a tail gunner in Europe from 1944 to 1946. After completing his military service, he returned to Lamar Junior College, playing basketball for two years. He transferred to Colorado A&M, graduating with a degree in Economics in 1950. He met Mary Lou in college and they married in Denver on November 3, 1950. He convinced his bride to leave Colorado for Texas. He worked at Texaco, Champlin, and General Dynamics. At the age of 40, he then began his insurance agency with State Farm (1966). He achieved several awards, including Rookie of the Year. During his successful business years he served the Glen Garden/Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ as an elder, and later served as elder to the Highland Church of Christ. He was instrumental in bringing several people to Christ, and blessed all he knew with his genuine love of God and others. His generosity was evidenced by his financial support of his various churches. He also gave major gifts to Arms of Hope (both Medina and Boles campuses), as well as Oklahoma Christian University. Though Alzheimer’s tried hard to steal his mind, he was able to continue to show his love for his family, God, and even the Rangers and TCU to the very end. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on. Family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 pm, Friday, June 5, 2015 at Restland’s Abbey Chapel. The funeral service will take place at 3:00 pm, Saturday, June 6, 2015 at Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ in Arlington, TX. Burial will take place at a later date at DFW National Cemetery. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75243. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Arms of Hope, armsofhope.org, 21300 State Hwy. 16 N., Medina, TX 78055. **************************************************************************************************************** The following is a Memorial Day tribute to Paul written by Tom this year to his fellow board members at Arms of Hope. Fellow Directors and Executive Team: As I hung my flag this morning, I felt inspired to thank God for ALL my blessings. Today, on Memorial Day and as Father’s day approaches, I am especially grateful for my dad. Our organization has been blessed by God in so many ways, and I am prejudicially proud of the 2 major gifts my mom and dad have provided to help the Medina and Boles campuses. On this day, I want to give you some background in how God has been involved in the life of my dad to this point. He was born in Houston in 1926 and grew up in Port Arthur during the depression. He was an All Star high school basketball player. As he was graduating in 1944, he put aside his education and basketball goals and joined the US Army Air Corp, the predecessor to the US Air Force. At my parents’ 50th anniversary in 2000, I was able to see his diary from his days in the service. I learned the following from reading the diary. He trained in Amarillo and a short time later flew with his squad from Texas to Nova Scotia to the Azores and to North Africa. He was a tail gunner on a “Liberator” (I believe it was this type plane-similar to the one in the movie “Unbroken”). Later as the war reached its final months in Europe, their base of operations shifted from North Africa to Italy. They flew several missions into Italy, Yugoslavia and Germany area-bombing key Axis munitions and fuel supply areas. On at least one occasion he described his plane being hit with flak and how the pilot cut short their planned mission. Instead of heading straight back to base they would improvise and find other strategic targets to hit so that they wouldn’t come back with unused payload. At least one entry showed how that he would see out his rear window some of his squadron’s planes sustaining enough damage that his buddies would be seen parachuting out over enemy territory, having no way to know what their fate would be. (Experiencing all this at 19 years of age!) I remember reading these entries when I was 40 years old and thinking of my dad at less than 1/2 my age going through these experiences, when at that age all I had thought about was school, sports and girls. In first reading this and thinking about it again today, I am reminded of the scene at the end of the movie “Saving Private Ryan”. The character played by Matt Damon- Private Ryan- is at the US cemetery in Normandy at the tombstone of the man played by Tom Hanks who had saved his life. As Tom Hanks’ character was dying, he looked at Private Ryan and told him to “earn this,” meaning make his life count for something. As the movie ends, the Private Ryan character is at the tomb reflecting back at this moment asking his own family if he had “earned it.” “Have I been a ‘good’ man?” Well, those characters were fictional but reflect the true stories of people like my dad. Daddy is in the last few months, if even that long, of his life. As we know, none of us is “good.” Only God is good. God spared my dad’s life when others in front of his own eyes were seeing their lives end. No doubt my grandmother and grandfather were praying daily for his life to be spared. Though not a perfect man, by God’s grace he survived the war without physical injury, went home and played more basketball at Lamar Junior College. He received a scholarship offer to Colorado A&M but gave up basketball and used the GI Bill to get his degree. He met my mom there and they married in 1950 in Denver. His mother had raised him to know God while his father had not been a Christian. His dad did not become a Christian (later became a preacher) until my dad was a teenager, and thus my dad had not found Christianity as a youth. He moved my mom to Texas, and it wasn’t until my parents were expecting my oldest sister that he and my mom became Christians and got involved in a church. He went on to serve as an elder and personally studied the Bible with several, baptizing many of them. He raised all of his kids to love God and demonstrated financial generosity to all of us, along with a heart of service to others. His faith would be considered “very conservative” by most. His love and giving to others have been very “liberal.” He gave me one of the greatest, if not greatest, gifts of advice a father could give his son. He told me while I was still in medical school that there might come a day in my life when I would feel God was leading me to act or believe in a way different than he, my dad, would agree with. He encouraged me to be my own man and follow God’s call above all else. Those words continue to bless me to this day and I have passed them on to my own kids. If you have made it this far, thank you for honoring me and allowing me to share some insight into the man whose name is on the “Paul and Mary Lou Winkler Hospitality Center.” He would be very proud to know that his gift has and will be used for God’s purposes in serving “the least of these.” As I said at the ground breaking ceremony, “it is pretty cool” to be the son of my parents. It is beyond imagination to realize how God has moved throughout all time to use imperfect people like my dad, to join Him in his purposes. I love you all. It has been, and continues to be an honor to serve with you. God bless you. I am sure you have stories similar to that of my Dad from those in your family or close circle of friends who have served our nation in the military. Our country needs to be grateful for these men and women, but ultimately thankful to our loving and merciful God, from whom all blessings flow. I pray Arms of Hope can continue to fill the gaps in the lives of those who haven’t had an earthly father like I have, while pointing them to the only perfect Father, to whom we all have access. Happy Memorial Day, Tom
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