-Five months ago Walter Larry Winsett, 36-year-old Memphis auto mechanic, learned that he was afflicted with an incurable malady and had but a short time to live. He appealed for the public to suggest ways to fill those last days. Still ready to face life, but knowing death, he died just before daylight yesterday morning. If suggestions offered by some 4000 sympathetic Americans gave his mind surcease from the inevitable, that was his secret at death.
- Members of his family, friends and attendants at John Gaston Hospital where he died, attested that he never forgot how to keep his chin and the corners of his mouth up. It was he who wrote on march 5 to a Memphis newspaper: "If you had but a few months to live and were physically unable to work, how would you spend your time? It's a tough feeling, sitting here waiting to die, but I haven't let it get me down yet. I became ill for the first time last May. Up until that time I had been in good health. I went to a specialist in Chicago but they told me there was no hope. About six months ago my Memphis doctor told me I had about a year to live. This week he said it was only a matter of months."
- Letters poured in, some offering remedies, suggestions as to how doctors might stop the spreading of the rare type of cancer. Others sent money and told him what types of recreation to follow. A kind public sent money for a trip to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and W.D. Lever Jr., Gainesville, Ga., sent a railroad ticket. Told the trip was useless, Mr. Winsett decided against it but did offer himself to the clinic for experimentation so that "in the future others might be helped."
- His last days were mostly spent abed. Reading detective stories and magazines and following progress of the war with a map and his small radio, he tried to make his hours longer in time and shorter in facing the reality of fate. Bill Shofner, of Thompson Bros Mortuary, an old friend, told Mr. Winsett that when he got lonesome to call for him day or night. These last few weeks have seen Mr. Shofner go to the hospital frequently to sit with Mr. Winsett.
- Mr. Winsett's four children, Walter, Harold, Billy and Barbara, helped their father during his last months. His wife, Mrs. Inez Winsett, and his mother, Mrs. Lena Gentry Winsett, were there almost constantly.
- They were there yesterday morning when death came and it was Mr. Shofner who took the body and sent it to Booneville, Miss., where funeral services will be held.
- He also leaves three brothers, Clovis Winsett, Memphis, B.B. Winsett, University City, Mo., and V.C Winsett, Booneville, Miss.; and four sisters, Mrs. Thelma Massengill and Mrs. Kenneth Andrews, both of Memphis, Mrs. Theo Barnett, Booneville, and Mrs. J.C. Nicholson, Meridian, Miss.
- Mr. Winsett came to Memphis from his Booneville home about 13 years ago. He had been in John Gaston several weeks when death came and before then had been in the county hospital several weeks.
(Published in The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, on August 3, 1942)
From Tennessee certificate of death:
WALTER WINSETT
White, Male, Separated, Age 36
Date of death: Aug. 2, 1942
Place of death: Memphis, Tenn.
Date of birth: (blank)
Place of birth: Alabama
Occupation: Asst. Manager
Wife's name: (blank)
Father's name: Albert S. Winsett, born Ala.
Mother's maiden: Lena Gentry, born Miss.
Cemetery: Booneville, Miss.
Undertaker: Thompson's
- Members of his family, friends and attendants at John Gaston Hospital where he died, attested that he never forgot how to keep his chin and the corners of his mouth up. It was he who wrote on march 5 to a Memphis newspaper: "If you had but a few months to live and were physically unable to work, how would you spend your time? It's a tough feeling, sitting here waiting to die, but I haven't let it get me down yet. I became ill for the first time last May. Up until that time I had been in good health. I went to a specialist in Chicago but they told me there was no hope. About six months ago my Memphis doctor told me I had about a year to live. This week he said it was only a matter of months."
- Letters poured in, some offering remedies, suggestions as to how doctors might stop the spreading of the rare type of cancer. Others sent money and told him what types of recreation to follow. A kind public sent money for a trip to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and W.D. Lever Jr., Gainesville, Ga., sent a railroad ticket. Told the trip was useless, Mr. Winsett decided against it but did offer himself to the clinic for experimentation so that "in the future others might be helped."
- His last days were mostly spent abed. Reading detective stories and magazines and following progress of the war with a map and his small radio, he tried to make his hours longer in time and shorter in facing the reality of fate. Bill Shofner, of Thompson Bros Mortuary, an old friend, told Mr. Winsett that when he got lonesome to call for him day or night. These last few weeks have seen Mr. Shofner go to the hospital frequently to sit with Mr. Winsett.
- Mr. Winsett's four children, Walter, Harold, Billy and Barbara, helped their father during his last months. His wife, Mrs. Inez Winsett, and his mother, Mrs. Lena Gentry Winsett, were there almost constantly.
- They were there yesterday morning when death came and it was Mr. Shofner who took the body and sent it to Booneville, Miss., where funeral services will be held.
- He also leaves three brothers, Clovis Winsett, Memphis, B.B. Winsett, University City, Mo., and V.C Winsett, Booneville, Miss.; and four sisters, Mrs. Thelma Massengill and Mrs. Kenneth Andrews, both of Memphis, Mrs. Theo Barnett, Booneville, and Mrs. J.C. Nicholson, Meridian, Miss.
- Mr. Winsett came to Memphis from his Booneville home about 13 years ago. He had been in John Gaston several weeks when death came and before then had been in the county hospital several weeks.
(Published in The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, on August 3, 1942)
From Tennessee certificate of death:
WALTER WINSETT
White, Male, Separated, Age 36
Date of death: Aug. 2, 1942
Place of death: Memphis, Tenn.
Date of birth: (blank)
Place of birth: Alabama
Occupation: Asst. Manager
Wife's name: (blank)
Father's name: Albert S. Winsett, born Ala.
Mother's maiden: Lena Gentry, born Miss.
Cemetery: Booneville, Miss.
Undertaker: Thompson's
-Five months ago Walter Larry Winsett, 36-year-old Memphis auto mechanic, learned that he was afflicted with an incurable malady and had but a short time to live. He appealed for the public to suggest ways to fill those last days. Still ready to face life, but knowing death, he died just before daylight yesterday morning. If suggestions offered by some 4000 sympathetic Americans gave his mind surcease from the inevitable, that was his secret at death.
- Members of his family, friends and attendants at John Gaston Hospital where he died, attested that he never forgot how to keep his chin and the corners of his mouth up. It was he who wrote on march 5 to a Memphis newspaper: "If you had but a few months to live and were physically unable to work, how would you spend your time? It's a tough feeling, sitting here waiting to die, but I haven't let it get me down yet. I became ill for the first time last May. Up until that time I had been in good health. I went to a specialist in Chicago but they told me there was no hope. About six months ago my Memphis doctor told me I had about a year to live. This week he said it was only a matter of months."
- Letters poured in, some offering remedies, suggestions as to how doctors might stop the spreading of the rare type of cancer. Others sent money and told him what types of recreation to follow. A kind public sent money for a trip to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and W.D. Lever Jr., Gainesville, Ga., sent a railroad ticket. Told the trip was useless, Mr. Winsett decided against it but did offer himself to the clinic for experimentation so that "in the future others might be helped."
- His last days were mostly spent abed. Reading detective stories and magazines and following progress of the war with a map and his small radio, he tried to make his hours longer in time and shorter in facing the reality of fate. Bill Shofner, of Thompson Bros Mortuary, an old friend, told Mr. Winsett that when he got lonesome to call for him day or night. These last few weeks have seen Mr. Shofner go to the hospital frequently to sit with Mr. Winsett.
- Mr. Winsett's four children, Walter, Harold, Billy and Barbara, helped their father during his last months. His wife, Mrs. Inez Winsett, and his mother, Mrs. Lena Gentry Winsett, were there almost constantly.
- They were there yesterday morning when death came and it was Mr. Shofner who took the body and sent it to Booneville, Miss., where funeral services will be held.
- He also leaves three brothers, Clovis Winsett, Memphis, B.B. Winsett, University City, Mo., and V.C Winsett, Booneville, Miss.; and four sisters, Mrs. Thelma Massengill and Mrs. Kenneth Andrews, both of Memphis, Mrs. Theo Barnett, Booneville, and Mrs. J.C. Nicholson, Meridian, Miss.
- Mr. Winsett came to Memphis from his Booneville home about 13 years ago. He had been in John Gaston several weeks when death came and before then had been in the county hospital several weeks.
(Published in The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, on August 3, 1942)
From Tennessee certificate of death:
WALTER WINSETT
White, Male, Separated, Age 36
Date of death: Aug. 2, 1942
Place of death: Memphis, Tenn.
Date of birth: (blank)
Place of birth: Alabama
Occupation: Asst. Manager
Wife's name: (blank)
Father's name: Albert S. Winsett, born Ala.
Mother's maiden: Lena Gentry, born Miss.
Cemetery: Booneville, Miss.
Undertaker: Thompson's
- Members of his family, friends and attendants at John Gaston Hospital where he died, attested that he never forgot how to keep his chin and the corners of his mouth up. It was he who wrote on march 5 to a Memphis newspaper: "If you had but a few months to live and were physically unable to work, how would you spend your time? It's a tough feeling, sitting here waiting to die, but I haven't let it get me down yet. I became ill for the first time last May. Up until that time I had been in good health. I went to a specialist in Chicago but they told me there was no hope. About six months ago my Memphis doctor told me I had about a year to live. This week he said it was only a matter of months."
- Letters poured in, some offering remedies, suggestions as to how doctors might stop the spreading of the rare type of cancer. Others sent money and told him what types of recreation to follow. A kind public sent money for a trip to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and W.D. Lever Jr., Gainesville, Ga., sent a railroad ticket. Told the trip was useless, Mr. Winsett decided against it but did offer himself to the clinic for experimentation so that "in the future others might be helped."
- His last days were mostly spent abed. Reading detective stories and magazines and following progress of the war with a map and his small radio, he tried to make his hours longer in time and shorter in facing the reality of fate. Bill Shofner, of Thompson Bros Mortuary, an old friend, told Mr. Winsett that when he got lonesome to call for him day or night. These last few weeks have seen Mr. Shofner go to the hospital frequently to sit with Mr. Winsett.
- Mr. Winsett's four children, Walter, Harold, Billy and Barbara, helped their father during his last months. His wife, Mrs. Inez Winsett, and his mother, Mrs. Lena Gentry Winsett, were there almost constantly.
- They were there yesterday morning when death came and it was Mr. Shofner who took the body and sent it to Booneville, Miss., where funeral services will be held.
- He also leaves three brothers, Clovis Winsett, Memphis, B.B. Winsett, University City, Mo., and V.C Winsett, Booneville, Miss.; and four sisters, Mrs. Thelma Massengill and Mrs. Kenneth Andrews, both of Memphis, Mrs. Theo Barnett, Booneville, and Mrs. J.C. Nicholson, Meridian, Miss.
- Mr. Winsett came to Memphis from his Booneville home about 13 years ago. He had been in John Gaston several weeks when death came and before then had been in the county hospital several weeks.
(Published in The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, on August 3, 1942)
From Tennessee certificate of death:
WALTER WINSETT
White, Male, Separated, Age 36
Date of death: Aug. 2, 1942
Place of death: Memphis, Tenn.
Date of birth: (blank)
Place of birth: Alabama
Occupation: Asst. Manager
Wife's name: (blank)
Father's name: Albert S. Winsett, born Ala.
Mother's maiden: Lena Gentry, born Miss.
Cemetery: Booneville, Miss.
Undertaker: Thompson's
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