Rozel - Eleanor A. Winkler died September 5, 2009, in Chandler, Arizona.

She was born Eleanor Allyn Thompson on Oct. 25, 1917, in Pawnee County, Kansas. Her parents were Edward and Catherine Thompson, and with her sibling lived east of Larned. In 1935 she married Howard Winkler and lived north of Rozel on the family farm. There she and Howard raised their three children, Karen, Charles and Steve. After a tornado destroyed the farm house in 1959, they moved to Rozel and lived in town while Howard continued farming the home place. Eleanor spent many years working as an aide at the Larned State Hospital and was also very active in EHU and the Rozel United Methodist Church. She also enjoyed many hobbies, reading, Scrabble and all kinds of needlework, especially embroidery, crocheting, and knitting. And she loved rock collecting. On many trips to visit family and just to go on vacation, if there were rocks to be found, that was the place to go.

Howard passed away in 1985 and she continued to live in the home in Rozel. She spent time traveling with her children to places all over the country and learning from everywhere she went. Eleanor moved to Chandler, AZ, in 2002 to have family support from her son Charles and his wife Elizabeth, as they had moved there in retirement. She had many loving family members nearby and visits from family and friends passing through or vacationing there.

She is survived by her sister, Irene Reynolds, Rainer, Oregon, her brother, Melvin Thompson, Arlington, Kansas, her daughter Karen Walter, Woodbury, Minnesota, her son, Charles, Tempe, AZ and her son Steve, Albuquerque, N.M. She is also survived by ten grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12th, at the Rozel United Methodist Church. Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday at the Beckwith Mortuary Chapel. Burial will be in the Larned Cemetery, Larned, Kansas. Memorials may be given to the church in care of the Beckwith Mortuary, P.O. Box 477, Larned, KS 67550.