Teresa M. Winkler, 93, of Seneca, KS, died Sunday, November 18, 2001, at Crestview Manor care home in Seneca. She had been a resident there since January 1991.

She was born April 19, 1908, on a farm in the St. Bridget Community north of Axtell, KS, the oldest of 10 children of John and Cecelia Catherine McQuaid McGinty. The family moved north of Seneca where she attended the Rock School and the Blue Star School. When she was in high school the family moved to Kempler’s Switch south of Seneca, and her parents operated a grocery store there. She graduated from Sts. Peter & Paul High School in Seneca in 1928.

On November 26, 1928, she married Lawrence J. “Germ” Winkler at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. They lived south of Seneca on the east side of Lake Nemaha before moving into Seneca in 1934. Teresa began employment with the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1944, where she was an operator for 21 years. She also worked part-time at the Florence Ann Shoppe and at Dr. C.B. Hash’s office, both in Seneca. Her husband “Germ” preceded her in death on August 22, 1990.

She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church and St. Ann’s Altar Society at the church, a charter member of the Nemaha County Historical Society, a member and past president of the Seneca Business & Professional Women’s Club, all in Seneca, and the Telephone Pioneers of America.

Survivors are a son, Robert Winkler of Wichita; three brothers, Clarence “C.E.” McGinty and Leonard McGinty, both of Wichita, and James McGinty of Seneca; nine grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren.

Besides her husband Germ, she was preceded in death by two sons, Carroll Lee on January 7, 1935 and Kenneth on June 1, 1977; two brothers, Emmett McGinty and John McGinty; and four sisters, Madelyn Winterscheidt, Catherine Schoenberger, and Rita Thompson and
Erma Cox.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10:30 AM Wednesday, November 21, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. Burial will be in the church cemetery. A prayer service will be held at 2 PM, with a rosary at 7 PM, on Tuesday at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca.

Memorials may be given for Sts. Peter & Paul School in Seneca, and sent in care of the family.