Winona’s father instilled a strong love of country in his twelve children; four of them served in WWII. She had had one year of college, studying premed, and three years as an apprentice pharmacist, when WWII started. As soon as she could, she joined the US Navy WAVES and requested the hospital corps.
Near the end of the war, Winona met and married SpA1/c Herbert J. Gunther.
Later, while raising two children, Winona was active in community service and worked as a retail buyer, home economist, and creator and host of a radio interview program. Now retired from a career in real estate, she lives in Solana Beach, California, in the home she had shared with her late husband.
Her first book, Papa Said, a story of her early childhood on a 240-acre Indiana farm, was published by Inspiring Voices in 2012. It is available through book stores and online.