Wilbert Winter

Wilbert Otto (Bill) Winter, 91, passed

away quietly on Jan. 18, 2011, in Longview, Wash., with family at

his side.

Bill was born Dec. 28, 1919, on a small

farm south of Parkston, S.D., to Bertha Uttecht Winter and

Nathanial Winter. He was one of seven children raised in the

township of Kulm, named after the Russian village from which his

and many of the neighboring families emigrated.

From an early age, he would spend spare

time (rarely found on a farm during the Depression years) working

on anything mechanical. In 1938, he and his older brother Arnold

rebuilt an old motorcycle and the two men, at 6-foot 4-inches and

6-foot 6 inches, rode the cycle from South Dakota to Los Angeles,

Calif., to find work and learn to fly. He soon had the training to

be hired by Douglas Aircraft, and in less than two years earned his

pilot’s license and owned his own plane.

During the war years, Bill was a wing

foreman for Douglas Aircraft and was recognized by the company for

innovations in the building of the C-47. He was the foreman in

charge of the wings on the first Air Force One designed and built,

but never used, for President Franklin Roosevelt.

While working at Douglas Aircraft, Bill

met Jean Elaine Foster, and they were married on Feb. 21, 1943, in

Santa Monica, Calif. Their three daughters, Marvilla, Christle and

Deneanne, were born there.

Bill moved his family to Whitefish in

1949, where Jean’s family was located, and he went to work for

Harlow Chevrolet. A certified GM mechanic, Bill was sought after

for his expertise on cars.

He went to work for the Great Northern

Railroad in 1953. Along with Art and Evelyn LaBrie, Ted and Connie

Lund, and Lil and Dale Howke, he and Jean helped to found the

Whitefish Winter Carnival Penguins. It was Bill who came up with

the design for the moveable “bills” that allowed the Penguins to

talk.

Following a divorce, Bill met Mollie

Morken, and they were married in 1965. He retired from the railroad

in 1979, and he and Mollie eventually moved from Whitefish to

Village Greens, in Evergreen. Bill and Mollie enjoyed a marriage of

40 years until her death in 2006.

Bill became a stepfather to Mollie’s

children, Earvin Morken, Gary Morken and Marilyn Morken, and

Mollie’s family became a big part of his life.

Bill could be quite opinionated on many

topics, and he enjoyed relating stories of his youth to family and

friends. He was a perfectionist and a very inventive and clever

man. Up until the time Bill moved from his home in 2010, he would

most likely be found in his garage inventing, tinkering and

redesigning almost everything.

He was very gifted in math and

mechanics and, with only an eighth-grade education, could help

solve his daughters’ math problems — even calculus. His

understanding of automobiles led him to be in demand for rebuilding

engines for friends. His carpenter talents were visible in the

woodwork in the home that he built in Whitefish.

He loved Christmas and went out of his

way to think up clever and thoughtful gifts. He always made sure

that the family had the perfect tree, which he selected during the

summer and cut during a family outing before Christmas. He enjoyed

the younger grandchildren and great grandchildren. The many years

after his retirement when he and Mollie could travel in their

fifth-wheel were some of the favorite times of his life.

Bill was preceded in death by his

parents Bertha and Nathanial Winter; brothers Arnold Winter,

Raymond Winter and an infant brother; sisters Adele Schultz and

Olivia Isabel; wife Mollie Winter; son-in-law Mike Conn, and

grandchildren Wendy Mae Conn, Maxwell Wischafski and Kevin

Morken.

Bill leaves behind a rich legacy and is

survived by his sister Hilda Winter, of Van Nuys, Calif.; daughters

Marvilla Davis and husband Charles, of Fairbanks, Alaska; Christle

England and husband Glenn, of Longview, Wash., and Deneanne Winter,

of Portland, Ore.; stepchildren Earvin Morken and wife Beverly, of

Kalispell, Gary Morken and wife Karen, of Sidney, and Marilyn

Morken, of Great Falls; 10 grandchildren; 18 great grandchildren;

and one great great grandson.

Bill was interred next to his wife

Mollie at Glacier Memorial Gardens in Kalispell.

A gathering for friends and family of

Bill will take place at the Village Greens Community Center in

Evergreen on Saturday, May 21, 2011, beginning at 1 p.m.

The family requests that any donations

be made to Hospice of Kalispell or Cowlitz County Home Health and

Hospice, in Washington.