Theodore Van Winkle, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at home.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Betty Gail (Summers) Van Winkle; his daughter, Cynthia G. Thomas and husband, Steve, of Mount Vernon; his son, James L. Van Winkle and his wife, Lois, of Dahlgren; his daughter, Theodora Ann Barenholtz and her husband, Jan, of Fairfield, Connecticut; six grandchildren, Adrienne E. Van Winkle and her fiancé, Seth T. Bridge of Washington D.C., Jonathan L. Van Winkle of Dahlgren, Michael J. Bassi, of Covington, Kentucky, Daniel Barenholtz of Fairfield, Connecticut, Lt. David Barenholtz and his wife, Claire, of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Jonathan Thomas of Mount Vernon; and one great-granddaughter, Kori Thomas. He is also survived by his younger brother, Phil J. Van Winkle and his wife, Nancy, of Orlando, Florida; and their children, Philip R. Van Winkle, James Michael Van Winkle and Sherry Allen.

"Ted," or "Teddy" as grandma and his old friends called him, was born on July 4, 1925, in McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the first child of James Herschel Van Winkle and Gladys Lydia (Brown) Van Winkle. He first attended Jennings School and later Big Hill School in Mayberry Township, Hamilton County. Ted and his brother, Phil, both graduated from Norris City High School in May 1944. Ted attended Southern Illinois University from the fall of 1944 to 1946.

He was inducted into the U.S. Army in January 1946, and assigned to the Army Counter Intelligence Corps at Fort Belvoir, Baltimore, Maryland, where he learned Japanese, techniques in interrogation and investigation, and was promoted to the rank of Staff Sargent. As part of the Counter Intelligence Corps 441st Detachment, he served in Tokyo and other parts of Japan from March 1947 to March 1948, where he conducted U.S. Army investigations of sabotage, sedition, espionage and subversive activities in Japan. Ted enlisted in the Army Reserves in March 1948, and then re-enrolled in SIU earning a BS in Geography. Ted was called back to active duty with the Army in October 1950, serving during the Korean conflict with the Counter Intelligence Corps in Washington D.C. until August 1951. Upon his discharge from active duty, he remained in the U.S. Army Reserves until October 1954.

Following his August 1951 discharge from the Army Intelligence Corps, he returned to Hamilton County, enrolling in college credit course offered by SIU in McLeansboro, where he met the love of his life, Betty Gail Summers. Ted married Betty Gail Summers on December 29, 1951, at the First Baptist Church in McLeansboro. Upon completion of his degree from SIU, he attended Northwestern University, receiving a Master of Geography. Ted and Betty then moved to Washington D.C., where he began work for the United States Air Force and the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center. Working for ACIC, he was trained in aerial photography analysis, target selection and bomb damage assessment. He later analyzed classified photos including those of Russia taken by the U2 program. While working Aeronautical Chart and Information Service, he enrolled in the George Washington University National Law School, buying his first law book, Black’s Law Dictionary, the day Cynthia was born in December 1952. In 1954, he was transferred to the ACIC center at St Louis, settling his wife, daughter and son in Belleville. They were soon joined by Theodora. While still working full time for the ACIC, and with a wife and three young children, Ted completed law school at St Louis University night division in June 1958, and was admitted to the practice of law Nov. 20, 1958. After finishing law school, Ted moved the family to McLeansboro.

Ted joined the late Honorable Charles E. Jones in the practice of law in 1958, creating the firm of Jones and Van Winkle which operated until Charles Jones was elected Circuit Judge. Ted was engaged in a private law practice in McLeansboro from 1959 until his official retirement Dec. 31, 2015. He served as the Hamilton County State’s Attorney from 1960 to 1964. Ted always kept a statute on his desk indicating his willingness to sue (explicative) invoking his strong sense of right and wrong, and belief that everyone who had been wronged deserved justice. Ted was joined in the law practice by his son in November 1979, forming the firm of Van Winkle and Van Winkle.

Services have been held.