Kenneth C. Winsor,

Kenneth C. Winsor, Jr., died at home on May 10, 2015, in Big Flats, NY, after a 15-year battle with cancer. He was 77. Ken was born September 6, 1937, in Elmira and grew up on Bridgeman Street—headquarters for his paper route and many antics with his best friends Eddie Schwenkler and Bucky Lewis. He graduated from EFA. Encouraged to pursue academics by his high school mentor, Marty Harrigan, Ken earned a BS in Forestry from Syracuse University and a Masters in Education from Elmira College. He was in the US Army and served in Germany. He taught math and science at the Elmira Correctional Facility for 24 years, retiring in 1991. He married hometown gal Donna Zeigler and together they had three children, Kirsten McNamara (San Diego, CA), Jane Winsor (Belmont, MA) and Kenny Winsor (Elmira, NY). Each was, without question, his “favorite” child—when the other two weren’t around. He also leaves his sons-in-law Larry McNamara and Bill Ellet; daughter-in-law Beth Winsor; three grandsons, Will, Alex and Ethan; great nephews Jamie Leonard (wife Cindy and daughter Emily) and Jody Leonard and great niece Lori Leonard Rice; and countless friends. Ken’s interests and accomplishments spanned an amazing breadth and depth. He loved the outdoors and fishing, spending many summers in the family cabin in Canada. He could fix anything, taught himself plumbing and “electrical work” (slightly scary from the family perspective, illegal from the inspector's perspective, and a no-brainer from the household budget point of view), and remodeled his entire house and built a garage. He could build anything he could imagine, including a deck with a firewood fueled hot tub. He raised pigs that he brought home in burlap sacks in the back of the retired mail truck he purchased for $40, pioneering the first mini-van. He could with equal ease fix a boat motor with a bobby pin, ingeniously create a way to keep squirrels off the bird feeder (an electrical solution also hazardous to humans) or repurpose an old jeep with no brakes and jury-rigged fuel tank in the back seat for hauling wood. And just as easily he could tell you the Latin names of trees, make a gourmet dinner or create a beautiful oil painting. Ken showed endless patience and compassion for anyone who needed help, especially his ailing in-laws, Ileen and John Zeigler. When it came to communication, he said it like it was (and more) and believed that you needed to know the person behind the words to really understand what they meant. He could spin a story like no other (and do things to create stories like no other). In the best of ways he didn’t care what other people thought, and always considered a sweatshirt proper attire long before Bill Belichick did. Ken believed that living simply is living richly. He could “make-do” in ways some found absurd but just chuckled at the skeptics. Above all, he loved his family and friends deeply. Ken requested no calling hours or funeral. Friends and family are invited to an informal remembrance at Hilltop Inn on Saturday, May 16, 2-5:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to CareFirst 11751 East Corning Road Corning, NY 14830 {www.CareFirst.org} Arrangements have been entrusted to Olthof Funeral Home, Inc. Ken's guestbook may be signed in obituaries at www.olthof.com