[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 108 (Wednesday, June 26, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E847-E848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING WENDI WINTERS OF THE CAPITAL GAZETTE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN P. SARBANES

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 2019

  Mr. SARBANES. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an obituary of 
Wendi Winters, a writer for the Capital Gazette in Annapolis Maryland.

                        [From the Baltimore Sun]

   Wendi Winters, a Prolific Writer for The Capital Enjoyed Sharing 
                     Stories About Local Residents

                           (By Jacques Kelly)

       Wendi Winters, a feature writer for The Capital and The 
     Maryland Gazette who earlier had been a public relations 
     executive in Manhattan, died Thursday in the attack at the 
     Annapolis newspapers' office.
       She was 65 and lived in Edgewater.
       Wendy Anne Winters--known throughout the community as 
     ``Wendi''--was born in Coronado, Calif., the daughter of 
     Leigh Cosart Winters, a Navy commander and real estate agent, 
     and his wife, Dorothy Breuninger Grigsby, who had worked as a 
     Capitol Hill secretary and was in the visitors' gallery in 
     December 1941 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked 
     Congress for a declaration of war on Japan.
       She attended Saint Rita's School in Alexandria, Va. and was 
     a 1971 graduate of the old St. Mary's Academy, a high school 
     also in Alexandria.
       ``She vividly recollected her semi-nomadic childhood as a 
     Navy brat,'' said her daughter, Winters Leigh Geimer. ``Her 
     fondest childhood memories were of her family's time in 
     Turkey when her father was a naval attache with the American 
     Embassy in Istanbul. She spent most of her time getting in 
     trouble with the local residents and exploring off-limits 
     places.''
       ``Our mother showed an aptitude for art and writing. At age 
     10, she wrote a poem for then-President John F. Kennedy and 
     she received a personal response with photographs from his 
     secretary, Evelyn Lincoln,'' said her son, Phoenix Winters 
     Geimer. ``She kept the photograph near her desk and it has 
     been in the house as long I can remember. She had a couple of 
     recollections of President Kennedy coming into her church.''
       She obtained a bachelor of fine arts degree with a 
     specialty in fashion design from Virginia Commonwealth 
     University and later went to New York City on a fellowship to 
     the Tobe-Coburn School for Fashion Careers. She was class 
     president at the school and graduated with honors.
       She remained active in alumni circles at Virginia 
     Commonwealth, and was invited there to sit on critic panels 
     of student work at university fashion shows.
       In a resume, Ms. Winters said most of her career was in 
     public relations--backed by experience in fashion retailing, 
     wholesaling, textiles, marketing, advertising, design and 
     promotion. She created and directed campaigns for two 
     ``international public relations firms and had her own 
     successful fashion public relations, advertising, special 
     events [and] runway show production firm for seven years,'' 
     her resume said.
       She lived in the Gramercy Park section of New York City and 
     later moved to Montclair, N.J.
       ``In her New York days her pay often included some of the 
     clothing she was promoting,'' said her daughter, a Purdue 
     University student who is a naval officer candidate. ``She 
     had a fairly large wardrobe because she didn't believe in 
     throwing things

[[Page E848]]

     out. Her fashion aesthetic looked like the 1980s had never 
     ended.''
       Her son said Ms. Winters routinely corresponded with 
     figures of the era--including Patty Hearst, Robin Leach, 
     Michael Douglas, the Trumps, Christian Lacroix, Oscar de la 
     Renta, Donna Karan, Iman, Keith Haring, Neil Sedaka, Leroy 
     Neiman, Regis Philbin, Cybill Shepherd, Lionel Hampton and 
     Sally Jessy Raphael.
       ``She regularly ran into Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali on 
     the street,'' said her son.
       In 1990, she won the Golden Apple Award, presented by the 
     New York City Chapter of the Public Relations Society of 
     America, for a campaign she orchestrated for the Polyester 
     Council of America.
       In 1986 she married Tod Geimer, who built computer networks 
     for banks.
       He suggested a change of pace and less hectic life in the 
     Annapolis area. They left New Jersey and moved to Arnold in 
     1999. They later lived in Cape St. Claire.
       ``My mother always needed to be doing something,'' her son 
     said. ``She started writing for small local publications.
       ``Her day's schedule was filled with so many events,'' he 
     said. ``You could plan for her showing up late, late--but 
     with a great story to tell. Her daily routine was to wake up 
     at 5:30 a.m. and work and work and work. At midnight she went 
     to bed.''
       She wrote on a freelance basis for The Capital and later 
     joined the publication full-time. She often took her own 
     photographs.
       Ms. Winters wrote three weekly columns: Around Broadneck, 
     Teen of the Week and Home of the Week.
       ``My mother learned to type on a manual typewriter and she 
     had a heavy touch. She could wear away the letters on a 
     keyboard. She also typed very fast,'' said her daughter. 
     ``She also wrote fast.''
       She had written for many other publications, including 
     Waterfront Living and Inside Annapolis Magazine, and wrote 
     theater criticism for Theatre Spotlight and The Review and 
     the DC Metro Theatre Arts website. She was a Helen Hayes 
     Awards nominator for two terms.
       She was named honorary vice president of her father's Naval 
     Academy Class of 1940. Family members said she organized the 
     class's 70th reunion.
       Ms. Winters had also been a Girl Scout leader, a church 
     youth adviser and ran an annual Red Cross Blood Drive. She 
     was also a cat fancier and enjoyed roller skating sessions at 
     Wheels Skating Center in Odenton.
       ``Wendi was always the same as the first day I met her in 
     high school--we were both cast in `Witness for the 
     Prosecution,' '' said Paul Donnelly, a friend who lives in 
     Honolulu, Hawaii.
       ``She was tall, elegant, self-possessed and dynamic,'' Mr. 
     Donnelly said. ``She lived life to the fullest and was not 
     one to sit around and watch television. Her writing was 
     meticulous and reflected her personality. She was 
     compassionate about the people she wrote about. It was never 
     a chore for her to write The Teen of the Week column.''
       A celebration of life will held at noon to 3 p.m. Saturday 
     at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase Street 
     in Annapolis. A reception will follow from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. 
     at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, where she 
     was a member.
       In addition to her son and daughter, survivors include two 
     other daughters, Montana Winters Geimer, a Naval Academy 
     graduate who is stationed in Pensacola, Fla., and Summerleigh 
     Winters Geimer of Edgewater, a home remodeling manager; three 
     sisters, Sandra Winters of Key Biscayne, Fla., Dana Rengers 
     of Alexandria, Va., and Debra Winters of Yuma, Ariz. Her 
     marriage ended in divorce.

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