Faith for the
Mountains and the
Valleys
Faith for the
Mountains and the
Valleys The Charley Winger Story
with James E. Taulman
C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 0 b y C h a r l e s E d w i n Wi n g e r S r. All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.
Printed in the United States of America
S T O RIE
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4-U
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Published by
R D • PRESE
Familystories-4-U 8072 Sunrise Circle Franklin, Tennessee 37067 615-595-2597
Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Section One: Life-Changing Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 1. The Success of Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Section Two: Early Life in Chattanooga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chapter 2. My Grandparents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Chapter 3. My Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Chapter 4. My Early Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Section Three: My School Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Chapter 5. Childhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Chapter 6. Baylor School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Section Four: Higher Education and the Military . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Chapter 7. Vanderbilt University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chapter 8. University of Chattanooga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Chapter 9. United States Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Chapter 10. University of Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Section Five: My Professional Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Chapter 11. General Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Chapter 12. Third National Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Chapter 13. New Vistas: J. C. Bradford and AmSouth Bank . . . . 89 Section Six: Faith in Valleys and on Mountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Chapter 14. Faith as My Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Chapter 15. Divorce and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Section Seven: Recreating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Chapter 16. Bicycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Chapter 17. Hiking and Backpacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Chapter 18. Snow Skiing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Chapter 19. Water Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Chapter 20. Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Section Eight: Snaps, Sites, and Sights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Chapter 21. Random Snapshots of My Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Chapter 22. Ruminations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Chapter 23. Expanding Our Home Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Section Nine: A New Phase in My Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Chapter 24. Retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Section Ten: Favorites and Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Chapter 25. Favorite Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Chapter 26. A Complementary Perspective on My Life . . . . . . 211 Section Eleven: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words . . . . . . . . 219 Chapter 27. Our Family in Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Section Twelve: Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Chapter 28. Footprints in the Sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Section Thirteen: Genealogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Chapter 29. Ancestry and Descent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Chapter 30. Interesting Family Tidbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Dedication To my beloved and devoted wife, Barbara, aka BJ, without whose companionship and help I could not have ascended the mountains nor crossed the valleys of life so successfully. Thank you with all my love, 1434637.
Foreword Come join me in the exploration of my life. Any omissions or errors in recall are strictly my own, and no names have been changed to protect the innocent. And, oh, the stories I could have included but chose not to. But, hey! It’s my story. values by Which I’ve Tried to Live • Faith, Family, Friendship, Love, Perseverance, Honesty, Integrity, Determination, Loyalty, Character, Intuition, and Humility • Take pleasure or find joy in the little things in life. For example, the rotten tree that just fell in our yard, encompassing a sapling that will provide nourishment for the smaller tree; or the tree roots growing around and down a large rock to reach the soil. • Keep your sense of humor. • Focus your attention on the future, not what’s behind you. Love who and where you are, Remember where you’ve been, Look forward to where you’re going. THOUGHTS become WORDS WORDS become ACTIONS ACTIONS become CHARACTER CHARACTER is EVERYTHING What a Ride! Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, But rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of dust, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Woo-Hoooooooo! What a Ride!” —Hunter S. Thompson Adapted from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5237.Hunter_S_Thompson
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