Claire Ann Winker

The "Doc" Dr. Claire Ann Winker was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin on January 16, 1944. She went to St. Mary's Catholic School where she graduated at the top of her class. She attended Holy Cross Catholic High School where she again graduated at the top of class, receiving a music scholarship to the College of St. Catherine in Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota. There she perfected the art of smoking cigarettes while playing some very good bridge at the same time. Claire Ann married Mac Winker of Tomahawk, Wisconsin on November 8th, 1969. They moved to Texas where she pursued her Doctorate in Psychology at Texas Christian University (TCU) so she could cope with Mac. Claire and Mac had two children, Kasha and David, in Texas where she became Director of The Lancaster School for the mentally handicapped and emotionally disturbed. During her time there Claire Ann secured grants and funding from the State of Texas to build a new school. In 1978, Claire Ann and Mac moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where Mac became Chairman of the Board of The Racquet Club of Memphis. Claire Ann formed her own company, Duende (a Spanish word that can mean to do something - anything - with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of style.) She also played tennis and became a nationally ranked racquetball player. While serving on several boards and starting her consulting business in Memphis, Dr. Winker was asked by downtown business leaders to develop a program to get people off the welfare rolls by training them as potential employees. Thus, Learning Can Be Fun was born, a holistic program that brought men and women on welfare into a school setting and taught them the skills needed in the tourism business. Her program was a wonderful success because she secured commitments of jobs from those same downtown business leaders before the program was completed. Dr. Winker's program received attention from the Clinton administration but was never adopted (unfortunately, considering today's welfare rolls.) As if Claire didn't have enough on her plate, her son David brought Ogi Nikolovski into her life as an exchange student. Ogi didn't speak any English but that didn't matter with Claire. She nurtured and loved him as her own, even securing a full college scholarship for him. Ogi, Claire's European son, along with his wife Katé and their two boys are now an active and crucial part of the Winker family. Dr. Winker then turned to consulting and writing. Each year she developed a theme for the upcoming ATP and WTA tennis tournament, writing, editing, and managing production of a glossy program that became one of the best in the tennis industry. Claire co-authored Mac's book "Ice Sculpturing in 12 Systematic Steps" now in its second printing. Claire Ann and Mac purchased the Club from William B. "Billy" Dunavant in 1992 and adopted St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as their official charity. Claire and Mac have raised over $10 million for St. Jude in direct and indirect contributions and are currently in excess of $1.6 million toward the $3 million Winker/Ganz Endowed Chair for Tumor Cell Research. The Winker's sold the Club and ATP and WTA franchises in 2008 and built a Cottage in Tomahawk where both Claire Ann and Mac grew up. Dr. Claire Ann Winker took up bike riding seriously and last year joined WomenTours on a bike tour through Glacier National Park. Claire Ann was working on her book "We Are Starving our Children" (a scholarly effort to show how parents find it hard, regardless of income level, to let their children "skin their knees" or "find their own legs"). In October, Claire Ann took a break from writing to bike with WomenTours in Punakha, Bhutan. She was on this tour when she biked off the road, fell, and died instantly with absolutely no pain and suffering - doing what she loved. What an inspiration to all of us! She lived life to the maximum until her final moment while inspiring, nurturing, attracting, caring, sharing, loving and giving to so many, many others along the way! Claire Ann was the daughter of Harold and Josephine (Raflik) Matthews. Survivors include: husband, Mac Winker, of Tomahawk; children, Kasha (Zeb) Shaw, of Chesapeake, Virginia, David (Jennifer) Winker, of Lansing, Michigan, Ogi (Katerina) Nikolovski, of Alpine, New Jersey; siblings, Lorraine (Len) Wagner, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bernadette Lutz, of Appleton, Charlotte (Jim) Denetz, of Dallas, Texas, Ronald (Marge) Matthews of Chicago, Illinois. Claire is further survived by nine grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother - Harold, sister - Elnora, and infant brother - Eugene. Funeral services in Tomahawk will be held on Saturday, October 25th at St. Mary Catholic Church, 320 E Washington Ave. Visitation from 9:30 until 11:00 AM. Mass will be held at 11:00, . officiated by Father John Anderson. Lunch follows at the Corpus Christi Center adjacent to the church. Funeral services in Memphis will be held on Saturday, November 8th at St. Louis Catholic Church at White Station and Shady Grove. Visitation from 9:30 until 11:00 AM. Mass will be held at 11:00, officiated by Monsignor John McArthur. In lieu of flowers or other gifts, please consider a gift to one of the charities below in Claire's name: Winker/Ganz Chair for Tumor Cell Biology Research at St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Inc Attention: Richard C. Shadyac Jr. ALSAC Chief Executive Officer 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105 Art Winker Memorial Fund Harrison Ball Park c/o Kathy Voermans N10455 County Rd. D Tomahawk, WI 54487 Dr. Claire Ann Winker Memorial Fund c/o Father John Anderson St. Mary Catholic Church 320 E. Washington Ave. Tomahawk, WI 54487