Edgar Carlton Winford

Edgar Carlton Winford (known as Carlton), age 97, and a lifetime Dallas resident, went to be with the Lord on February 20, 2023. He is survived by his daughter Mary Linda Smith and her husband Ben Smith, daughter Dianne Wilkerson, her daughter Anne Burns and husband Cody Burns, their two daughters Elizabeth and Catherine, Dianne's sun Carlton Wilkerson and wife Dabney Wilkerson, their daughters Sawyer and Cora Jane, his brother-in-law Bill Bowman and niece Laura Worsham.
During the 68 years Carlton shared with his wife, Anne, they loved and served their family, church, neighbors, friends, and various organizations, and were known for their hospitality. They had many friends from Munger Place Methodist Church, Skillman Avenue Church of Christ, Antique Automobile and Horseless Carriage Clubs, their Woodrow Wilson High School graduation classes, and their fellow residents at the Tradition Senior Living Center in their later years. Carlton published newsletters bringing fun and cohesion to the Woodrow Wilson group and residents at the Tradition.
Carlton was ingenious, always clever, resourceful, skillful, inventive, and original, with an engineer's mind and a comic's heart. He was a renaissance man and a jack of all trades, mostly self-taught. He instinctively knew how to do almost anything, and he delighted in serving others using his know-how to fix any problem delivered to him to solve.
Most of all, he loved his family, often offering to help or "rescue" them even in his later years.
Carlton always had an upbeat, sunny disposition and was a constant jokester and prankster, spanning his almost 98 years of life. Whether pulling pranks in his class in elementary school spreading Mentholatum on the radiators so they could escape class for a while, or joking with General Patton while Carlton was "holding down the fort" at headquarters when his cohorts were "sleeping it off" in the back, or publishing his Pranks 101½ book, he delighted in entertaining friends and strangers alike with his humor, whether at church, at the doctor's office, a cruise ship or plane, or his various pals, he always carried a pocket full of business or calling cards he had designed and printed to make people laugh.
As a child, Carlton was known as "Cotton" for his ultra-light blonde hair. His mother, Grace Carlton Winford, died when Carlton was a baby, so his father, Edgar, enlisted his aunts from Tennessee to come help raise Carlton until his dad remarried a few years later. Carlton was a very independent child who, at an early age, was learning, exploring, and inventing.
He also had a beloved uncle, Reese Culbertson, whom Carlton always remembered fondly. Reese lavished his attention, time, and resources on Carlton. And in Reese's last years, Anne and Carlton brought him to live with them at their home on Alexander Drive.
Amazingly, Carlton was able to procure a hardship driver's license at the age of 12 and even chauffeured several older ladies around town as they had need. As a boy, he helped his neighbor restore a sailboat. Later, he began helping another neighbor who had a radio repair business in his garage. His quick understanding and ability astounded his neighbor/employer. As a teen, he worked for an electrician and surpassed him with his quick, accurate wiring of houses, many of them being built in Highland Park.
Carlton started dating Anne in high school after her family moved in across the alley, and their mothers set them up on a date. Carlton figured out a way to wire an intercom between their two rooms, no party lines interfering.
He later enrolled at Southern Methodist University as an engineering student, but his college career was cut short when he was called up for service in World War II where he was quickly transferred from the infantry (he was an excellent marksman) to repairing radios for the troops.
A few years ago, a newspaper columnist published a piece honoring Carlton. He wrote of his service in four major battles, including the Battle of the Bulge, under the command of General Patton in the 87th division of the 3rd Army. Since Carlton was an SMU engineering student, professionally repairing radios as a teenager, and installing Hockaday School's first public address system at age 15, it was a natural fit for him to fulfill the role of Technical Sergeant in the 345th infantry regiment's second battalion, leading the communications platoon. During his service he invented the solution to prevent corrosion in radios, due to inclement weather that would cause them to fail. This was a tremendous achievement that was implemented for the hundreds of devices Carlton repaired and delivered for use in the battlefronts and across the army as a whole.
After returning from the war, Carlton married his sweetheart Helen Anne Bowman, helped his father run his furniture store located on Greenville Avenue, and they started their family which included two daughters, Mary Linda and Dianne Elizabeth. Both daughters think of him as the "Sweetest Father Ever!"
Carlton was a professional level, but amateur, photographer, and maintained an office/darkroom. He restored antique cars, and always loved buying, selling, and trading cars of any vintage.
Subsequent to working with his father, he was a star corporate salesman for Pitney-Bowes, owned rental property, started a real estate company with a business friend, built pipe organs with his good high school friend, John Fort, all over Texas in various churches, drew architectural plans for several homes in Dallas and Fort Worth, helped Fry's revamp their checkout system, owned a printing company, developed engineering instructions for riding lawn mowers, authored two books, and was a humorist with syndicated pun humor columns in the United States, Canada, and Australia. His letters were legendary, sometimes resulting in significant benefits to others. But perhaps he was best known for his untiring humor and endless service to family, friends, and neighbors who needed anything...but especially whenever there was something that needed to be fixed!
How we miss you, Daddy!... but we'll join you someday in the presence of Christ our Savior, whom we thank for letting you be our dad.
A family graveside service will be held Friday February 24th at Restland Cemetery 13005 Greenville Ave., Dallas, TX 75243.