Dr. Elton Dewitt "E.D." Winstead, 99, formerly of Wilson d i e d Morchi 25, 2013. Funeral services will b e hield Saturday April 6, 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Wilson c o n d u c t e d by Rev. Bob Bergland and Rev. Harold Morcombe. Burial will follow in Maplewood Cemetery. The family will receive friends Friday April 5, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at Joyner's Funeral Home, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway. Dr. Winstead was born in 1913 in Wilson, grew u p in Wilson, a n d lived a life of honor a nd integrity serving his country, community, a n d family. A member of "The Greatest Generation," his loyalty and love for his country was evident throughout his entire life. He enlisted in the Army on February 6, 1934 and served almost twenty-four years before retiring from that chapter of his life December 31, 1957 as a Lt. Colonel. He was a c o m b a t veteran of Worid War II fighting in the Battle of Corregidor in the Philippines at the beginning of the war, however after the fall of Corregidor he spent the remaining three years of the war as Prisoner of War in the Philippines held by the Japanese. (His wife a n d b a b y son h a d been e v a c u a t e d b a c k to Wilson from the Philippines just before the war started, a n d for the first year of his captivity, his wife did not know if he was alive or dead.) As one of the fortunate survivors of those ordeals, he returned t o Wilson after the war a n d was presented the Key to City of Wilson in a special community ceremony in front of the courthouse. (On March 31, 1995 an "E.D. Winstead Day" commemorating that ceremony with a second key to the city was held as part of Wilson's special fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the e n d of Worid War II.) He was post commander of Fort Davis in the Panama Canal Zone guarding part of the Panama Canal during the Korean War. Some of his Army assignments are i n d i c a t e d by the birthplaces of his four children, Ed " D e e " at Ft. Mills on Corregidor Island in the Philippines, Ray at Ft. Monroe in Virginia, Sue at The Presidio of San Francisco (the historic Army post containing Ft. Scott) in California, a nd Gene a t Ft. Davis in Panama. After graduating from Charies L. Coon High School in Wilson in 1930 he a t t e n d ed Atlantic Christian College in Wilson for one year. He t o ld his parents there was no need for him to continue as a student at ACC, since he was not g o i n g to b e either a teacher or a preacher. (Ironically, later in life he b e c a m e a full-time teacher a n d a substitute preacher.) After retiring from the Army a n d moving back to Wilson, he continued where he left off a n d g r a d u a t e d f r om ACC thirty years later in 1960. After earning a master's degree in e d u c a t i o n f r om Duke University he b e c a m e a faculty member at ACC in 1962. In 1966, he c o m p l e t e d his doctoral d e g r e e from Duke University, b e c a m e the first chairman of the new ACC Department of Mathematics, a n d remained a professor in that position until his retirement in 1977. He married Josephine "Jo" Minshew, a Wilson nurse from Black Creek (Wilson County) in 1938, and they shared their joumeys and lives together until her death in 2000. Their last move together v^as from Wilson to a retirement community in Durham, NC in 1996. Their relationship was one of loving commitment and caring. He participated in community activities in Wilson, e.g. he was the first chairman of The Wilson County Facilities and Pollution Control Financing Authority, was a member of First United Methodist Church in Wilson, and was a member of the American Legion. In 2010 he moved to a retirement community in Brevard, NC where his son Ed and his wife Pam live. After he retired from ACC he enjoyed bowling regularly with friends, and he continued to bowl regulariy with new friends in Durham until moving to Brevard. In Durham he occasionally conducted church services, including preparing and giving the sermons, when the regular pastor for the retirement community was absent. In Brevard he attended St. Timothy United Methodist Church and participated in church activities there. Dr. Winstead is survived by his children and their families, Ed "Dee" Winstead and his wife Pam (Brevard, NC) and Pom's four sons, Gary, Alan, Brian, and Joseph, and five grandchildren; Roy Winstead and his wife Dawn and their two children, Jacob and Daniel (Indiana, PA); Sue W. Gordon and her husband Tony (Henderson, NV) and their two children Beth (Las Vegas, NV) and Aimee (Monroeville, PA); and Gene Winstead and his wife Kathleen and their daughter Haley (Montclair, NJ). Dr. Winstead was preceded in death by his parents, Frank J. and Nettie S. Winstead, his wife, Josephine "Jo" M. Winstead, his brother Frank OIlin Winstead, and two sisters Geroldine Winstead and Clara W. Williams. Photos and a partial autobiography are available on the internet at http://ravwinstead.com/edw/. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation in Dr. Winstead's honor to the Barton College School of Nursing at PO Box 5000, Wilson, NC 27893. Dr. Winstead's wife Jo was a Registered Nurse alumna of the Wilson-Herring Hospital School of Nursing, now the Barton College School of Nursing. Funeral services in Wilson N.C. are being handled by Joyner's Funeral Home and condolences may be directed to www.joyners.net. Local arrangements are being handled by Moody-Connolly Funeral Home and Crematory.