Loretta Winkler, prominent in Chester history, turns 100

Loretta Winkler, former president of Chester Historical Society and Assistant Director of Westchester Public Library System, turned 100 years young and was feted by family and friends on the occasion. There was a party at her former home in Chester, where members of her adoptive family, friends and members of the Historical Society celebrated the milestone. The next day there was another celebration at her current home, Valley View Center in Goshen.

Born to Lawrence and Hannah Winkler, she grew up in Kansas City, Mo.

Service as a WAVE

During World War II, Winkler served in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), from 1943 to 1945, and worked in the Washington, D.C. area as a clerk-typist in the construction battalion, doing payroll and overseeing the shipping of equipment.

She entered the service as an Apprentice Seaman and was assigned to work for the Seabees, where she attained the rank of Storekeeper Third Class.

“I was very happy to be able to serve in the Navy during the war but getting in wasn’t easy,” she said. “I was not yet 21 and my mother had to sign for me. I also flunked the eye test, so I just memorized the chart and passed the second time.”

A lifelong friendship and a new family

It was while she was in the Navy that she met Suzanne Cullen (later Harris) who became her lifelong friend. Winkler came to live with Suzanne and her family in Chester, and they became her family as well. Extended family, including Cullen, Degan, McCormick, and Conjes family members came to Winkler’s 100th birthday party at her former home on Dec. 12. She savored seeing so many of her family and friends.

According to Winkler’s extended family member Doyle Degan, many at the 100th birthday party were children that Winkler and Cullen hosted at an annual New Year’s Eve party, so their parents could go out. That arrangement continued every year for about 15 years, and the kids had a great time, she said.

After WWII, Winkler studied for a year at University College in Dublin, Ireland. She briefly returned to St. Louis and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree and got a teaching license, but she found she needed other courses to teach in New York when she returned to Chester. So she found other work while taking the needed classes.

Cullen’s father, Thomas Joseph Vincent Cullen, owned the Independent Republican newspaper and he gave Winkler a job as managing editor there. As the Democratic Chairman of Orange County, he had political clout, and through his influence, Winkler attended FDR’s inauguration, along with Cullen’s daughter Suzanne.

New directions

Meanwhile, her friend Suzanne Cullen was working in the New York Public Library in Manhattan and suggested that Winkler get a job there. Winkler started as a clerk, took courses and obtained her Masters in Library Science degree at Columbia. She worked at several libraries in the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan in the young adult section, jobs she loved.

At one of her jobs in the city, the head of services had an interview show and Winkler met guests John F. Kennedy when he came to discuss his book and Eleanor Roosevelt when she came to talk about her newspaper column.

Later she took a job at the Westchester Public Library System and retired there as Assistant Director in 1978 and returned to Chester.

Life after retirement

Winkler threw herself into other pursuits after retirement. She worked as a volunteer for community development and for the local Democratic Party. She was a staunch Democrat, known for getting people to meetings, according to the late Jack Collins: “She was a go-getter.” During one election campaign, he said, she would call every day. “How many signatures did you get today?” she’d ask. “She would get after you.”

“Loretta was indefatigable when she set her mind on doing something,” Chester Historical Society member Georgina Robillard said.

Winkler became a vital member of the Chester Historical Society, and with help from Ed Stoddard, Marjorie Nehrich and then-mayor Joe Battiato, obtained a $98,000 grant which enabled the society to rehabilitate the derelict Erie Station. She served as president of the Society several times, including 1999, the year the station reopened, becoming the headquarters of Chester Historical Society.

“If it hadn’t been for Loretta we wouldn’t have the station. It was her drive that made it happen.,” said Debbie-Lu Vadala-Adams, another former Society president.

During her time at Valley View, in 2020, Winkler contracted Covid and was hospitalized for three months, but she has since recovered.

Asked about the birthday party at her former home, Winkler said, “That was terrific! The party was great.”

In an earlier interview, Winkler gave this advice: “Get involved in volunteer organizations. There’s more freedom to do good in them.”

To what does she attribute her longevity? “I attribute it to having a lot of people around who love you.”