Mildred Gearheart Winkler

Mildred Gearheart Winkler died on December 18, 2010. She was born on October 9, 1923 in Flat Woods, Kentucky to William and Margaret Gearheart. Her family later moved to Frankfort, Indiana. She was a graduate of Frankfort High School and the Wishard Nursing School, Indianapolis City Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana as a Registered Nurse. During World War II, Mildred was a Lieutenant in the United States Army and served at Camp Atterbury where she met her future husband, Thomas John Winkler. She long served the people of Bell County as a registered nurse, working at the Bell County Health Department and the Pineville Community Hospital. In 1961, Mildred founded The Pineville School for Practical Nurses, which became the Cumberland Valley Health Occupations Center , now part of the community college system. She was preceded in death in 2003 by her husband of 56 years, Thomas Winkler. She is survived by three children, Sallie Ann Winkler Lewis, San Antonio, Texas, Jane Winkler Dyche, London, Kentucky, and Thomas John Winkler, Jr., Pineville, Kentucky; seven grandchildren, Melissa Lewis Noonan, Catherine Lewis Collier, Allen Asher Lewis, Robert Wesley Dyche, IV, Thomas John Winkler, III, Travis Shane Winkler, and John William Dyche. She is also survived by ten great-grandchildren, John Charles Clarke, Henry Harrison Clarke, Pearce Fitzgerald Clarke, Bennett Prescott Noonan, Theodore Thomas Noonan, Miles Hudson Clarke, Hudson Carter Lewis, Lincoln Henry Noonan, Emma Jeffrey Winkler, and Paisley Britan Lewis. Services for Mildred Winkler will be held at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at the Arnett Steele Funeral Home in Pineville, Kentucky. Friends may call after 12 noon on that same day. Memorial gifts are suggested to Northern Hills United Methodist Church, Memorial Fund, 3703 North Loop 1604 East, San Antonio, Texas, 78247, and First Christian Church of London, 303 North Main Street, London, Kentucky, 40741