Winston Wiley

A celebration of the life of Winston Leroy Wiley Sr. will begin on Monday, September 17, 2012 with an 11:00 am service at Paul’s Chapel, 1070 H Street, Arcata, CA.

Winston was born in Dinuba, CA on June 6, 1933. He loved his country passionately and joined and served in the National Guard for three years starting at the young age of 15. He married the love of his life, Eloise Elane Jourdan, on December 31, 1951. As teenage newlyweds they moved to northern California where he worked in the timber industry and they put down their roots and started their family. Winston later retired from Simpson Timber Company after 44 years of service. He loved the beauty of the north coast and said he couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to live anywhere else. Some of the best times of his life were those spent fishing out of Trinidad Bay with Eloise. He found great delight in watching his wife run around the boat screaming with excitement when she had a fish on!

He loved his family immensely and always had a story to share with everyone he met including strangers. And he never met a stranger. It was said of him “Gramps always has a smile” and “Winston was one of the best people I have ever known.” He had the ability to make everyone he met and knew feel special and valued when they were with him.

Winston passed away at home on September 13, 2012 surrounded in love by his wife and family.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Eloise; sisters, Virginia Barnes, Fresno, California and Beverly Sisk, Cleveland, Oklahoma; children, Debera and her husband Roberto Kawas, Susan and her husband Timothy Dyer, Winston Leroy Jr. and his wife Ann, Stephanie and her husband Allen Hedrick, and John and his fiancé Jeannie; eleven grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Florence Wiley; brothers, Franklin and Kenneth; sisters, June, Helen and Betty; and granddaughter, Lizett Elizabeth Kawas.

Winston’s family will welcome friends and relatives to a memorial gathering immediately following the service at Valley Azteca Restaurant, 5000 Valley West Blvd., Arcata.