Winifred A. Sponseller of Mt. Pleasant passed away on November 3, 2016 at the Woodland Hospice House in Mt. Pleasant.

     Winifred was born in Union Township of Isabella County on September 18, 1915, the daughter of Alvah and Teresa Wheeler Smith.  She resided in rural Isabella County most of her life.  Winnie attended Maple Hill School and then Mt. Pleasant High School, graduating in the class of 1933.  After graduating from school, Winnie worked for a time in Niles, Michigan at Simplicity Pattern Company while living with a family member and also helping to care for their first child.

     Winnie met her future husband through a very close friend.  He was attending Central Michigan Normal and playing on the freshman basketball team.  This courtship eventually led to a proposal and George and Winnie were married on June 2, 1938 at the home of the bride.  They purchased a gas station/country store south of Mt. Pleasant where they lived and worked and began to raise their family.  They later sold the store and purchased a farm on Deerfield Road where life began as a farm family with George helping his father.  In the early 1950’s, they moved to the Sponseller family farm on Crawford Road where Winnie has remained her life.

     After her husband’s death, Winnie did some traveling with friends and developed her artistic side with oil painting, quilting, weaving, and many other craft projects sharing her talent with family members.  She was an avid Detroit Tigers Fan.  Winnie attended the Gulick Methodist Church as a child, the Coomer United Methodist Church, and was a life member of the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant.

     Winnie is survived by her children, Lester Sponseller of Tennessee, Sue Cotton, Kirkwood (Nancy Priestap) Sponseller, and George (Sherry) Sponseller all of Mt. Pleasant, and Kay (Richard) Rieck of Traverse City; sixteen grandchildren, twenty-six great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren.  Also surviving is a sister, Shirley Layman of South Dakota.  Winnie is preceded in death by her husband, George O. Sponseller; parents, Alvah and Teresa Smith; siblings, Irvin Smith, Carl Smith, Eugene Smith, Chancey Smith; and Helen Smith Davis Elliott; a son in law, Peter Cotton; a daughter in law, Judie Sponseller; a grandson, Matthew Rieck; and a great grandson, Jeremy Sponseller.

     A celebration of Winnie’s life will be held on Monday, November 7, 2016 at 11:00 AM from the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant with Rev. Diane Gordon officiating.  Interment will be in Riverside Cemetery.  Friends may call at the Rowley Funeral Home on Sunday, November 6, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 pm and on Monday from 10 am until the time of services at the church.  Those planning to make an expression of sympathy may choose the First United Methodist Church, Isabella County Commission on Aging, or Woodland Hospice.