E.C. Winstead

Emerson Clarence "E.C." Winstead, 88, died Friday, January 13, 2012.

Funeral, Sunday, 3 PM, Maplewood Cemetery, Section J. The visitation will follow at the home, 3415 London Church Rd, Elm City.

He was born in Wilson, September 7, 1923 and was preceded in death by his wife Laura Battle Winstead and parents, E.Clarence and Anne Gill Winstead.

He was a graduate of The University of the South, Sewanee, TN with a BA (Optime Merens), where he was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity; he also studied in a graduate program at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

For two years he was Administrative Assistant to Superintendent of Charleston, SC, County Schools before returning to Wilson to be head of purchasing department at Eastern NC Sanatorium for 20 years. He later transferred to Eastern NC School for the Deaf to be Administrative Officer for grants and programs. E.C. was a World War II Army Veteran, serving in England, France and Germany.

E.C. was a member of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church where he served as lay reader, lay communicant, and member of the Vestry. He was active in the NC Alliance for the Mentally Ill and was an honorary member of the Poetry Society of South Carolina.

Surviving are sons, Emerson Kemp Winstead of Chapel Hill and Thomas Terry Winstead of Clayton; several grandchildren and a nephew, Henry Gordon Grossberg of New York City.

Special thanks to Mrs. Joyce Merritt for her years as nurse and caretaker for the Winstead Family and to Janie Williams, Betty Barnes and Patricia Hall, the doctors and staff of Wake Medical Center and Hospice of Wilson Medical Center. Special thanks to his bookkeeper and assistant, Ann Sutton.

Memorials are suggested to the National Alliance for The Mentally Ill, 1312 Beal Street, Rocky Mount NC 27804 or to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, PO Box 1527, Wilson NC 27894.