Saturday, June 7, 2003

Fred Winkler - Volunteer of 2003 for Texas

Fred Winkler, The Texas' Volunteer of the Year
June 7, 2003 , By Lynda DeGroot

The Central Texas Trail Tamers had a special surprise in store for one of their long-time members during their June 7 National Trails Day event at Bright Leaf State Natural Area in Austin, TX. Fred Winkler, who at 81 is the senior member of the Trail Tamers, received an award from the American Hiking Society for being chosen as "Volunteer of the Year" to represent the entire state of Texas. He was selected over all other nominees in our huge state!

Fred is truly amazing and one incredibly hard-working man! We all remark that he can work circles around some of us "younger" members. Some call him a "machine"! He's a real go-getter, and when he's not working with us on most of our projects, he's off somewhere else helping with numerous AHS "volunteer vacations" all over the United States. Not one to fly (I guess he had enough of that in WWII), he drives his truck to just about every location no matter how far away! He also donates quite a bit of his time at local parks and preserves during the week while the rest of us are at our other jobs. He simply likes to stay busy!

Fred has been married to his delightful wife, Eunice Winkler, for 54 years. She used to accompany him on numerous camping trips throughout their marriage but has decided to stay home in recent years because "she can't keep up with him anymore." Not many of us can!

So, we say congratulations to a guy that, like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going and going!