Obituaries for the day of June 18, 2009

Wilbur Winterton

Formerly of La Grande

1943-2009

Wilbur Earl Winterton, also known as “Butch” and “Will,” died June 11 with family at his side. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Cove Cemetery. A gathering will follow at the Smokehouse Restaurant in La Grande.

Butch was born Feb. 6, 1943, to Jesse Richard and Florence “Alta” (Davis) Winterton. He attended school at Starkey Logging Camp and college at Shoreline Community College in Seattle.

He served in the U.S. Navy, on the USS Ranger during the Cuban missile crisis. He met and married Eva Fay Hartley in 1964 in La Grande, and the couple had three children.

Butch retired from Boeing, after 25 years, where he enjoyed all aspects of the aerospace industry. He also worked for Boise Cascade off and on. He loved spending time with family and being outdoors, fishing and hunting. He was a lifetime member of the Masonic Lodge.

Survivors include his wife, Fay; children, Lynn Carol Winterton of Everett, Wash., Annette June Blackford of Marysville, Wash., and Richard Dale Winterton of Fort Belvoir, Va.; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; siblings and their spouses, Raymond and Kathy Winterton of Wasilla, Alaska, Ernest and Sandy Winterton of Colton and Marty “Sis” Sears of St. Johns; in-laws, Alfred Hartley, Carolyn K. Partridge of Elgin, Aloha June Travis of Meridian, Idaho, and Gene Hartley; and numerous extended family members. He was preceded in death by his parents and one sibling, Virgil E. Winterton.