Phyllis Higley Winkelman

February 07, 1915 - August 09, 2006

Phyllis H. Winkelman, a pioneer in educational television and active in community beautification projects, died peacefully at the Life Care Center of Attleboro, on August 9 at the age of 91.

She was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1915. An excellent student, she received a B.A. in Latin at Mt. Holyoke College and an M.A. in Education from Columbia University. She had a long and happy marriage to the late John Winkelman (1911-2002), a professor of German. They lived in Missouri, Nebraska and Canada before settling in Clifton Park, New York. In 2001 they moved to Wrentham, Massachusetts.

While in Nebraska, she worked as Director of Education for the Nebraska State Historical Society and wrote scripts for a number of award-winning films about experiences of the early settlers. In Clifton Park she was active in the Bicentennial Commission and organized tree planting and similar projects, receiving a plaque for her environmental work from the town of Clifton Park. She also wrote books about genealogy and articles about local history.
She is survived by three children (John and Bill Winkelman and Alice Berberick), eight grandchildren (Stephan, Mike and Mary Beth Berberick, Anne Marie Anderson; Benjamin, Elizabeth, Daniel and Albert Winkelman), and three great-grandchildren (Gabrielle Berberick, and Joseph and Eric Anderson).

Funeral Information

A funeral service will be held at Roberts Funeral Home, 30 South St. Foxboro, Massachusetts on Monday, August 14, at 11:00 A.M.