Dianne Winkler Stuart

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, July 3, 2024

CHICAGO – She was the sweetest soul. Given to laughter and tenderly fierce love of family and friends. Of her Mother, Justine Merritt Winkler, she said, “young, beautiful and feisty as a spring born filly.” Of her Grandmother, who raised her, she said, “thin as a rail and strong as a steel rod.”

She was the best of both. Born October 8, 1941 in Greenville, KY to William and Justine Winkler and raised on Broad Street in Central City where she shot out a street light with a BB gun during her childhood. She graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor’s of Elementary Education. After teaching less than a year, five children of her own would be born.

Later, she returned to WKU to complete a Master’s of Folklore and Anthropology and then became the Curator of Education at WKU’s Kentucky Library. Her work to expand educational opportunities for school-aged children caused the library to require a bus lane to accommodate the increased attendance.

A studious and serious expert on the Shakers and on Kentucky author Janice Holt Giles, she authored Janice Holt Giles: A Writer’s Life and Hello Janice: The Wartime Letters of Henry Giles.

Happily, she would shift to Tampa Bay to be Granny for several of her grandchildren. There she met James M. Stuart. Their marriage grew her family instantly.

Eventually moving to Chicago, she would help Robert D. Stuart, CEO of Quaker Oats and former US Ambassador to Norway, compile papers for his memoir.

She lived with Parkinson’s disease heroically and without complaint for 24 years. She passed peacefully on June 22, 2024 with her husband and daughters near.

She was preceded in death by her brother, US Army Colonel David Winkler.

She is survived by her husband James M. Stuart, two daughters, Daphne (Watkins) Denham and Danette (Watkins) Wright. Three sons, Brian Watkins, Brad Watkins and Brent Watkins. Two step-children Maren Stuart and Chris Stuart. There are 15 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

She was a bright light. An example of strength, beauty and patience. Loved by all.

A Memorial Service will be held in Bowling Green, KY at Rich Pond Baptist Church on July 16, 2024 at 11 o’clock. Visitation will be from 9 o’clock until the start of service.