Carolyn James Winberry

Mrs. Winberry died Sunday, June 14, 2026. Born in Columbus, Georgia, she was the daughter of the late Thomas Howard James (U.S. Army Colonel, retired) and Elizabeth Walton James.

Mrs. Winberry attended several different schools as the child of a nomadic military family, graduating from Bel Air High School in Bel Air, Maryland. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a master’s degree in library science at Emory University in Atlanta.

She embarked on a career as a professional librarian, working at institutions including the University of Michigan, Colorado State University, and the Hunt Botanical Library in Pittsburgh. She moved with her then-husband Dr. William R. Stanley and their two sons to Columbia, S.C., and continued her career at the South Carolina State Library and finally the University of South Carolina, where she worked as the head science librarian at Thomas Cooper Library.

Mrs. Winberry was an avid traveler. Her adventures took her from Finland to Japan and Peru to Vietnam. Her interests were equally wide-ranging, from marine biology to antique furniture to Impressionist art. She loved to beachcomb and to garden, especially spider lillies and other perennial plants. She was creative and resourceful; one of her unsung talents was designing clever Halloween costumes for her young sons.

Whether she was editing a school newspaper, volunteering as a Cub Scout den mother, or sharing a laugh with neighbors, she thrived when she was among people, and her many friends. She enjoyed word games and British comedies, and she excelled at playing Trivial Pursuit. While she preferred not to spend time in the kitchen, she was also an excellent cook.

Mrs. Winberry was a member of the Sierra Club and National Audubon Society, as well as the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and United Daughters of the Confederacy.

She remarried in 1978 to Dr. John J. Winberry, who pre-deceased her. Surviving are her sons, Bruce Stanley (Lan) of Saudi Arabia, and Douglas Stanley of Athens, Ga.; and grandson, Paul Stanley.

Memorials may be made in the form of contributions to the Sierra Club.