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Bernice Winkel, 91

Bernice Elaine Sorrell Winkel, age 91, died at the Good Shepherd Hospice House in Manhattan, Kansas, on Monday, August 12, 2024.
Bernice was born January 3,1933 at her family home in Glen Elder, Kansas, to Corwin Griffis Sorrell and Clara Lois Nesmith Sorrell. Bernice was the oldest of five children. She graduated from Glen Elder High School and then attended Kansas Wesleyan College and graduated with her teaching certificate. She taught first grade at Cawker City Grade School for two years. Bernice married Cecil Winkel on April 18, 1953. They met in the wheat harvest line at the elevator in Glen Elder. They shared over 57 happy years together. To this union six children were born.
After Bernice and Cecil were married, they began their farming life together. Bernice helped Cecil in every aspect of the farm which included running a dairy. She loved to ride around the country and look at the crops. Bernice loved being a wife, mother, and especially a grandma. Even though she only taught two years in the school classroom setting, Bernice shared her teaching skills everyday with her children and grandchildren.
She said first grade was the most important because you learned to read. She loved to dance in the rain and would tell us kids to do a rain dance when the thunder clouds rolled in. In her later years she loved going to the wellness center to exercise and swim with many friends.
Bernice was a person that always found the best in people. She did not judge and she loved unconditionally. She enjoyed the yearly vacations to Colorado and planning family get-togethers. Bernice had a strong faith and was a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Cawker City, the Catholic Ladies Guild, the Ladies Auxiliary of Glen Elder American Legion, and also taught CCD.
Bernice will be remembered for her laughter. She did not know a stranger. She loved to play the piano and yodel. Even in her last days at the Hospice House she was still laughing and yodeled with her kids, grandkids and great grandkids.
Survivors include her sisters, Annetta Ferguson, Vista, California, Bonnie Burnett, Great Bend, Kansas, Betty (Larry) Green, Mesa, Arizona; sons, Ray Winkel and fiancé Darlene Sporleder, Bill Winkel and wife Darnell, Glen Elder; daughters, Roxanne Unrein and husband, Herb, Lawrence, Kansas, Jennifer Bean and husband Mark, Glen Elder, Kansas, Julie Schoen and husband Stuart, Manhattan, Kansas, Angela Herndon and husband Shawn, Glen Elder, Kansas; 18 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Waiting to greet her in heaven are her husband, Cecil; her parents; one brother, Bruce Sorrell; daughter-in-law, Ilene Winkel; two great-grandchildren, Hadley and Chase Thompson; the deceased family members of Peter and Anna Winkel and Corwin and Clara Sorrell, and a host of friends.
Thanks for all the memories mom!
Funeral services will be at 10 AM Monday, August 19 at the Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Cawker City followed by burial in Athens Cemetery north of Glen Elder.
A parish rosary will be at 6 PM, and visitation will be from 4 PM until the rosary service starts on Sunday at the Church.
Memorials may be given to the Good Shepherd Foundation in Manhattan.
Roberts Family Funeral Service is in charge of arrangements.
Condolences may be left at www.robertsfamilyfs.com

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