April 25, 1931 – April 7, 2026
BOWIE- James Lee Winingham, 94, passed away on April 7, 2026.
A visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. April 24 at the White Family Funeral Home in Bowie.
The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. April 25 at First Baptist Church of Bowie.
The burial to follow at Elmwood Cemetery, Bowie.
James was born on April 25, 1931 in the Bowie area to Lee McCain Winingham and Frances Lucille Stubbs Winingham. James grew up in a long-standing farming and ranching family that settled in Montague County in the 1860s after the Civil War.
A 1949 graduate of Stoneburg High School, he played basketball and was active in Future Farmers of America and was a lifetime member. He often recalled growing up through the Depression – living without electricity and listening to the family radio with a spinner. As a young man he helped build the Hopewell Cemetery pavilion in Stoneburg 1946.
James married Barbara Ann Garrett on Sept. 6, 1952 at the First Baptist Church of Bowie. The couple met at First Baptist when Barbara was 15. They remained lifelong members of the church. James enlisted in the National Guard in 1953 and later became a noncommissioned officer attaining the rank of Staff Seargent in the US Army. He served as a communication noncommissioned officer stationed in Fairbanks, AK. Barbara joined him and worked at the local hospital. Donna was born in Fairbanks in 1955. After his military service, they returned to Bowie and built their home on Nelson Street.
James worked tirelessly to provide for his family – delivering mail from the Bowie Post Office and then rural delivery from the Sunset Post Office. He also was the Manager of the regional Coca Cola Bottling Plant in Bowie. He remained active in the National Guard and served as a volunteer firefighter for the City of Bowie. As a proud Master Mason of the Bowie Masonic Lodge #578, he received his 65-year pin. After retiring from the Post Office, he raised and sold cattle fulltime up until last year.
His retirement years were also filled with travels to all parts of the world with Barbara, his children and grandchildren. His long life was blessed with the opportunity to welcome great-grandchildren into his world.
His greatest legacy will be all the people he shared his faith with and how Jesus saved his soul and spared his life on several occasions. He believed God had saved him for a purpose and that purpose was to share his faith in Christ with others. He shared with everyone who would listen how God had blessed him over and over.
He is preceded in death by his parents, sister, Frances Faye Myers (husband Tom); Randy Myers (wife Diane) and beloved wife, Barbara Ann Garrett Winingham, who passed away in 3/2025 after 73 years of marriage.
James is survived by his children, Donna Winingham, Templeton, CA, Marilyn Judy and husband Kenneth, Crawford, Janet Winingham Monkres, Granbury and David Winingham and wife Beth of Stoneburg; grandsons, Houston Crawfis, Christopher Judy and wife Christine, Andrew Judy and wife Catarina, Hance Winingham; step-grandsons, Josh and Tyler Monkres; granddaughters, Emma Crawfis, Lindsay Judy, Gabrielle and husband Preston Baird, Alexandra Sakel(Colby White) and Samantha Hall; great-grandchildren, Faith, Eliana, Luke, Micah, Daniel, Issac Judy and Caleb Hall; brother, Dan Winingham and wife Eliane, Olney; first cousins, Anita Spikes and Maxine Woolsey; nieces, Nancy Anthony and husband Bill, Susan Pulley and husband Jack, Michelle and husband Derrick Carson; nephews, Lewis Garrett and wife Natasha, Mark Winingham and Brad Winingham and wife Jennifer and a host of great nieces and nephews.
Family requests in lieu of flowers that memorial donations be made to the Hopewell Cemetery Association, 1666 Hopewell Road, Bellevue, TX 76228.
Paid publication