Wyquita Magdalene Winton

Wyquita Magdalene Winton was born January 2, 1932 and graduated to Heaven January 21, 2021.  She worked at the Florence Citizen for many years, where she authored the feature “Wyquita’s Wanderings”.  She was a substitute teacher for the Florence school district and also taught at the Florence Christian School.

She is survived by her daughters, Carolyn (Curtis) Watkins, of Penrose, Susan (John) Shattuck, of Westcliffe; sister, Lois (Ron) Kendall, of Haviland, Kansas; grandchildren, Christina (Kevin) Mathias, Cherilyn (Roy) DeWitt, of Florence, Ernie Helphingstine, of Greeley, Jack Magill, of Texas, Felicia (Bobby) Knox, of Spring, Texas; many great and great-great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

Wyquita was welcomed into Heaven by her husband, Ernie Winton; son, Murray Paul Winton; great-grandson, Michael Meloni; parents, Murray and Vera Kearns; sisters, Eilene Langley, Phyllis Kearns and brother, Richard Kearns.

In her own words, Wyquita has written about her life:

“I am so thankful that my life has been centered around my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I gave my heart to Him at age 9 or 10.  He forgave me, and I have walked with Him since that time, with lots of bumps in the road.  He has been faithful to forgive and extend grace and mercy to me.

Having grown up on a Kansas wheat farm, 12 miles from the church our family attended, it was not always easy to be there.  Then, moving to Colorado in 1946, my family found a church to attend regularly and I was able to be involved in a youth group.  I am thankful for my Christian heritage.  My parents nurtured me, along with my church family, until I left for college in the fall of 1949.  It was during that time that I realized I could not depend on my parents or my church family, that I needed to establish my own identity with my Savior.  I am thankful that a pastor was able to give me guidance in that.

It was during those years at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas that I was able to take several Bible classes.  To me, the most important was the Personal Evangelism class, where I learned many Scriptures that have carried me through those ‘bumps’ in the road.  The most important is Isiah 41:10. It was also during that time that I definitely knew I wanted to be a teacher and make a difference ‘in some kid’s life’.  Since then, it has turned into making a difference ‘in others lives’.  God has given me many an opportunity for that.

  After graduation, I taught sixth grade at Goddard, Kansas for two years before marrying Ernest Winton, who I met when we lived in Canon City, during my high school years.  However, we didn’t have any contact from the time he went into the Navy in 1948 until August 1954.  We married in June 1955 and made our home in Florence since that time.

We had three children, two daughters and a son.  I was involved in their lives in church, school, scouts and substituted in the local schools during their early lives.  In 1968, our son was killed when he was run over by a school bus in front of our house.  It was a total accident and a time of seeing our community surround us with love and support.  It was also a time of saying to the bus driver- ‘we love you, we do not hold anything against you, because we know it was an accident’.  Murray Paul had come across the street to our house, dropped his papers and went back to get them.  The bus driver had seen him cross and was ready to proceed on down the street when it happened.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to witness to others of God’s redeeming power and strength to journey through a totally rough time.”

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