Some people tell funny stories, but Sally Winton told stories funny, her family said.
“When she got together with her sisters they were funny as a crutch,” said James “Jim” Winton, of Montgomery. “By the time the story was over, everybody in the room would be in hysterics, and not because the story was that funny, but because of how they told it.”
Picking one example is impossible, but there was the time Mrs. Winton went to a dinner theater with a date, who she very much wanted to impress. When the curtain went up, out rode one of her sister on a horse, Mr. Winton said, who could not stop laughing at the memory of the story.
“No, she wasn’t in the play,” he said of his aunt. “She probably got to talking with the people backstage and got it all set up. But they were just funny people like that.”
Jessica Winton said her grandmother had a way of telling a story that got a captive audience every time.
“I mean you could have heard the story 100 times, but you still hung onto every word like you didn’t know how the story was going to end,” said Ms. Winton, who lives in New York. “And she’d drop these things into a story, and you’re like ‘whoa, what?’ but that’s how she kept you hooked.”
Ms. Winton recalled a story her grandmother told about being in the south of France having lunch, and Princess Grace sat at a table next to hers. The royal sighting was exciting, but Mrs. Winton described the restaurant and its surroundings in such detail, her granddaughter had to see it for herself.
“I’ve been to several places she described or told stories about,” she said. “I’ve wanted to follow her footsteps in that way. She was an amazing influence in my life.”
Sally Fields Winton, of Atlanta, was still generally active until she had knee replacement surgery in 2010, her son said. Her health began to deteriorate not long after that procedure, he said. Mrs. Winton died Thursday after a number of health issues. She was 88, though she did not generally broadcast her age, her son said. A funeral service has been planned for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Sunrise Chapel at Arlington Memorial Park, which is also in charge of arrangements. Entombment will immediately follow the service.
Mrs. Winton was a native of Phoenix and moved to Atlanta with her husband Malvin “Mal” Winton in the early 50s. The two started Winton Sales Co., a frozen food brokerage, in 1954, which they operated together until his death in 1974.
After her husband’s death, Mrs. Winton became chairwoman of the Winton Sales board and used the company to sponsor an Indy race team and help support the arts, her son said.
Ms. Winton said her grandmother’s life encouraged her to “go big” in her own life.
“That’s how I ended up in New York,” she said. “She always pushed me and inspired me to do something huge.”
Mrs. Winton is also survived by another son, Jon Winton of Mathews, Ala; a daughter Mallory Winton Sodano of Atlanta; three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
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