Jean Abbey Winters

Winters, Jean Abbey, died at her daughter's home in Apopka, FL, on June 9, 2009. Jean was born January 28, 1922, in Jamestown, New York. Her family moved to Palm Beach in 1924 and to Ft Lauderdale in 1928. Jean graduated from Ft. Lauderdale High School, in 1939, and from Arlington Hall College for women in Arlington, Virginia. She worked for the U.S. Navy and volunteered at the USO where she met her husband Milo C. Winters. They married in 1944. Jean was active in the PTA, the Cub Scouts, and Brownies. In 1954 she joined the Daughters of the American Revolution. In the fifty-five years that followed Jean was a very active leader in the organization at the national, state and local level. She was Charter Regent of the William Lauderdale Chapter which she and other working women began in 1976 so they could hold Saturday meetings. Jean organized the Broward County Regents Council as a way to coordinate the activities of the multiple DAR chapters here. She was involved in the Children of the American Revolution and served at all three levels. Jean has mentored dozens of women and hundreds of youth in parliamentary procedure, and genealogical research, as well as American heritage, citizenship, and patriotism. Since 1938 Jean had been a "Friend of the Seminoles". With that group, Jean's mother worked to get the Seminoles admitted to the public schools in 1946. As a State DAR American Indian Chairman Jean later gathered scholarship funds to help keep Billy Cypress at Stetson University where he went on to become the Seminole Tribes'˜first college graduate. When the Tribe agreed to open a Head Start Program in 1966 Jean was asked to lead that project because she was a trusted friend with a degree. She worked for a year establishing that program. The following year she went to work as cashier for Independent Life Insurance from which she retired in 1980. In 1990 Jean & her husband Milo, who died in 1992, joined the First Presbyterian Church where Jean served as a Deacon for three years and worked with the Adult Activities Center. She also did more genealogy research and joined and served in the Daughters of the American Colonies, New England Women, Society Daughters of the Colonial Wars, and Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America. In 2001 Jean moved to John Knox Village. Jean stayed busy with travel, her family and her patriotic groups until her stroke in last July. Jean is survived by a son, M. Chris Winters, Ft. Lauderdale, and daughter, Nancy Jean Moore, Apopka, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. During a lifetime of service Jean has been a kind and generous friend, a loyal and patriotic citizen, a loving and patient parent. She was color blind at a time when that was still just a medical condition and she always practiced the rule that if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all. She was a good listener and a smart and resourceful woman with limitless spirit and energy for doing whatever needed to be done. In lieu of flowers, you may choose to send a donation to the Church or organization through which you knew Jean. Funeral will be held Saturday, June 13, 2009, at 2 PM, First Presbyterian Church, 401 S.E. 15th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL.