A Mother Whose Legacy Lives On

My mother, Nancy Virginia Hale Winters, was the daughter of Layne Hale and Ota Farley Hale. She grew up in a large Appalachian family with five brothers—Archie, James (“Buster”), John D., Charles (“Junior”), and Robert (“Bobby”) Hale—and three sisters, Sylvia Kazee, Marvel Winters, and Belva Geer.

Mother was born on a small farm on Lofty Lane along Crooked Creek in Logan County, West Virginia. Her world centered around that little community. Within just a few miles of home she attended church, went to school, visited town, and, as a teenager, married my father, Harold Winters.

Years later, when I was about twelve years old, Mother and Dad purchased a farm on Crooked Creek, only about a mile from where she had been born. It seemed fitting that life had brought her back to the place she had always called home. Our family lived there for about six wonderful years.

Mother was only twenty-two years old when I was born. We shared twenty-eight precious years together before the Lord called her home. Those years shaped my life in ways I continue to appreciate more with every passing year.

Her Faith

My mother loved Jesus with all of her heart. Throughout my childhood I never doubted where her priorities were. Her Christian faith was genuine, unwavering, and evident in the way she treated others. She faithfully served the Lord and lived the kind of life that quietly pointed people toward Christ.

Because of the promises found in God’s Word, I have complete confidence that Mother is now in Heaven. The Bible describes that glorious place as having streets of gold, gates of pearl, and the river of life where death is no more. Sometimes I wonder what she would tell me if I could hear her speak today. I believe she would simply encourage everyone to prepare for the journey that ends in that beautiful place called Heaven.

If you would like to learn more about God’s plan of salvation and the hope of Heaven, I invite you to visit JesusSaves.cc.

A Sudden Goodbye

During the summer of 1962, I purchased a lot overlooking Lake McLeod in Eagle Lake, Florida. My dream was to build Mother and Dad a new home where they could enjoy their later years together.

That same summer, Mother and Dad took a three-week vacation to visit all nine of her brothers and sisters in West Virginia. They returned home on July 17, 1962, and we enjoyed supper together that evening.

The following morning I went to visit them, only to discover that Mother had been rushed to Winter Haven Hospital during the night after suffering a coronary thrombosis. Mary Nell hurried home, and I remained by Mother’s bedside throughout the night.

Early on the morning of July 19, 1962, at only fifty years of age, my precious mother stepped into eternity.

Family members traveled from West Virginia to Florida for her funeral. Our home quickly filled with relatives and friends who came to honor the remarkable woman whose life had touched so many people.

The Greatest Inheritance

Mother did not leave me an earthly inheritance measured in money or possessions. Instead, she left me something far more valuable.

She gave me a heritage of Christian faith, godly character, moral convictions, and a Pentecostal witness that has guided me throughout my life. More than sixty years have passed since her death, yet her influence continues to shape who I am.

People who knew Mother still speak of her kindness and her genuine love for others. She especially loved children and young people, faithfully serving them through the church. She had a unique way of making everyone feel valued and loved. Her life left lasting impressions that continue to this day.

Everyone loved Virginia Winters.

Although she lived only fifty years, she filled those years with faith, compassion, and service. Her testimony reached far beyond her own community.

Following her passing, the West Winter Haven Church honored her memory by constructing a boys’ dormitory at a Bible school on the Philippine island of Isabela. In April 1964, Lovell Cary arranged for a commemorative plaque to be placed on the building and sent a photograph back to our family—a touching reminder that Mother’s influence had reached around the world.

A Life-Changing Loss

Mother’s death caused me to reevaluate the priorities of my own life.

Mary Nell had always graciously supported the demands of my work and ministry, but I realized how precious time with family truly was. I began asking myself difficult questions. If my life were suddenly cut short, what would my wife and children remember most? What legacy would I leave behind?

Those questions eventually led me to reconsider my career at Tip Top TV and Appliances and to pursue a life that would allow me to invest more deeply in my family and in the work God had called me to do.

Looking back, I can see that one of Mother’s final gifts to me was helping me understand what matters most. Her life—and even her passing—became part of God’s plan in shaping my own journey.

My mother, Nancy Virginia Hale, is pictured in the center of the back row at approximately eight years of age (1919).