Snapshot shines spotlight on Winn’s education career
Hannibal native, Colman Kersey Winn, is pictured in front of A.D. Stowell School in the late 1920s. This photo was a keepsake of Evelyn Epker Guthrie of Quincy, Ill., who was born in 1913, and attended Stowell School. The photo was contributed by Mrs. Guthrie’s granddaughter, Sherry Guthrie Hughes.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
In 1922, a circuit preacher from Canton, Mo., the Rev. Byron Ingold, met a young Oakwood farm boy living on Moberly Avenue, east of Orchard, and convinced the lad to finish high school.
Following the preacher’s advice, Hannibal-born Colman Kersey Winn enrolled in Culver Stockton Academy in 1922 (the last year before the high school Academy closed), and completed the requirements for his diploma.
According to an article published in the June 3, 1974, edition of the Quincy Herald Whig, Winn continued at Culver Stockton as a college student, ultimately earning a bachelor’s degree. His emphasis was in mathmatics.
During his years at the college, Winn participated in football in 1926; track in 1924-25; and was Sophomore Class president in 1926.
He came back to Hannibal, accepting a position as assistant principal at Hannibal High School from 1927-29. Winn then returned to Canton, and accepted a job as principal and teacher of science at Canton High School. Additional duties included coaching baseball. His annual salary was $1,350.
In 1930, Coleman K. Winn was married to Rev. Ingold’s daughter, Kiula Ingold, and devoted his career to education.
Rev. Ingold would continue to preach, and to teach mathematics at Culver-Stockton College for many years to come. He became somewhat of a legacy on campus.
After eight years as principal of Canton High School, and after taking administration classes during the summers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Winn was elected superintendent at Wellsville, Montgomery County, Mo. By 1940, the Winns had three children, Mary Virginia, Byron and Donald L. Winn. A fourth child, Elise, was born later.
As the years advanced toward U.S. involvement in the Second World War, Winn moved his family to St. Charles, Mo., and went to work for the Curtiss Wright Corp.
According to its website, “In 1929, Curtiss-Wright was formed by the merger of companies founded by Glenn Curtiss, the father of naval aviation, and the Wright brothers, renowned for history’s first flight. These technological pioneers ushered in the era of aviation and their trailblazing spirit made history.”
The plant developed a twin-engined, all-metal monoplane for use in training Army Air Corps pilots how to handle multi-motored bombers and fighters. The plane were designated by the Army as the AT-9.
After the war, Winn took charge of the schools in Kinderhook, Ill., then Galesburg, Ill., and by 1960 was serving as superintendent of the Community Unit School District No. 1 at Carlyle, St. Clair County, Ill.
It was there that tragedy struck. Kiula Ingold Winn, 50, a teacher at the Wherry School, Scott Air Force Base, died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident on May 27, 1960. Her two oldest children were grown, while her two youngest children, Donald and Elsie Winn, were students attending Illinois Normal University.
Her body was brought back to Canton, Mo. for burial, near her father, Rev. Ingold, who died in 1942.
Remarriage
On June 10, 1961, Colman K. Winn was united in marriage to Katherine Zosel Howard in Chicago.
Katherine was born in Canton, Mo., the daughter of Charles Zosel, manager of a saw mill, and his wife, Rosa. She attended school in Canton, and continued her education at Culver Stockton College. In 1930, she was teaching at Canton, presumably in the district where Colman Winn was principal.
She moved to Chicago, and worked for the Herald American and Chicago Tribune newspapers. She was married to Michael Howard, who preceded her in death.
Katherine moved from Chicago to Carlyle after her marriage to Coleman Winn. He continued working in Carlyle until 1964, when he retired. During his tenure at Carlyle, a new high school and a new grade school were constructed.
Colman and Katherine moved to Canton, where they constructed a new home for their retirement years.
He later served as superintendent of Marion County R-2 School district, announcing his resignation on April 5, 1974.
Colman Winn died in 1986.
Katharine Winn died 2012 at the age of 103.
A scholarship was established at Culver-Stockton College in recognition of the Winn family’s dedication to education. The Coleman K. and Katherine Winn Award for Excellence in Education scholarship annually recognizes a senior education major, who plans to pursue a career in teaching.
Hannibal years
Colman K. Winn was the first-born child of John Hayne Winn (1863-1940) and Inez Kersey Winn (1871-1936.) John H. Winn, a painter and paper hanger by trade, moved his young family to the Oakwood area of Ralls County, Mo., during the early years of the 20th Century. There, they became members of the Oakwood Methodist Church.
Among Colman’s siblings was Ira Winn, born in 1910, who also attended Culver Stockton College. He taught at Stowell School in Hannibal, Ilasco school, and was head football and basketball coach for Hannibal High School from 1946 until 1952. He also taught mathematics and biology. He died in 1965 at the age of 54.
Other siblings included William and Henry Winn, and Irene Davis.
Colman Winn, in 1926 while a sophomore at Culver Stockton College. Photo from the college yearbook. Ancestry
This is an illustration of the twin-motored monoplane which was in development by the Curtiss-Wright Corp. for the United States Army Air Corps. This illustration was published in the Oct. 16, 1941 edition of the St. Louis Star and Times. Colman Winn put his educational career on hold and went to work for the Curtiss-Write Corp., during the years leading up to World War II. Newspapers.com
Evelyn Epker (Guthrie) attended Hannibal’s Stowell School, and saved the accompanying photo of her teacher or possible administrator, Colman K. Winn. Photo contributed by her granddaughter, Sherry Guthrie Hughes.
Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri," "The Historic Murphy House, Hannibal, Mo., Circa 1870,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’ and the newest book, “Oakwood: West of Hannibal.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com
