2022

Jill Calkins, wife of member Charles Calkins and also a member of our group herself, passed away on 1/1/2022 due to complications related to Covid. She did lots of different things in her life, but music was her main interest - choir director and organist at church, plus sometimes played oboe in the Florissant Valley orchestra. She participated in quite a few of the WINS auction and contributed to the talk threads when topics struck her interest. She and Charles were married 16 years and enjoyed many coin shows together, she was a member of a many local clubs in the St. Louis area. She died at age 63 and will be missed not only by Charles but the whole WINS family.

2020

Ralph John, age 68, lost his battle with cancer on September 23rd, 2020 at his home in Summerville, SC, surrounded by family. Ralph served as an MP in the U.S. Army 1972-1975 and retired, as Deputy Chief, from The Whitehall Police Dept., after 33 yrs. Ralph was our WINS president from 2003 to 2013, he was very well versed on parliamentary procedure and kept WINS running in a very peaceful and orderly fashion. He was well liked by all of the membership and dealt personally with members buying and trading coins. He will always be remembered fondly, and sorely missed by all his friends here at WINS, we have lost a very dear and caring member.

2018

Memorial As written by Ralph Huntzinger. JD was not only a WINS founder, in many ways WINS was his passion. JD so enjoyed participating in WINS that he often stated to me that he'd sit down at his computer after dinner to get his "daily WINS fix". He created and maintained our WINS web site; he oversaw the induction and introduction of new members and kept the records of all our members; he was our 'List Mommy' who maintained and monitored our email lists; he ran our auctions for many years; he coordinated our 'coins-as-art' design contests; and he designed one side of our WINS Anniversary Medallion. And, especially when our email lists were busier than they are today, JD posted regularly. He posted about coins and he posted about life. He was very knowledgeable about numismatics, and his stories about coins and life's experiences were enjoyable and sometimes hilarious.

2018

Our dear friend and club librarian John Mundwiller passed away on August 15th, 2018. John was a close friend to all of our local members and spent much time conversing with many of our overseas WINS members both on-list and in private conversations. He was a pretty diverse collector finding interests in some US coinage, but spent most of his time buying world coinage off eBAY. He fortunately was able to spend quite a bit of time the last few months of his life in Europe on river boat cruses, a fitting send off for one who enjoyed world coinage so much. John will surely be missed, especially by those of us who knew him personally and attended coin shows and functions with him. WINS was a better place because of his participation and he a more fulfilled person because of WINS. He would have liked us all to lift a beer in toast to his memory, so keep that in mind next time you have a cold one.

2016

On September 29, 2016 Robert Charles Wilharm, a founding member of CONECA, a major force in the error and variety hobby, and a long time WINS member passed away.

2015

John Dolan was born April 15, 1941 in Oregon and passed away on July 24, 2015 in Las Cruces, NM from medical complications with his lungs. The doctors noted that even to his last day, he expressed a yearning to be with his late wife Betty; no one could make him laugh the way she did. John had a rich love for coin collecting, geography, his family, the military, and politics. John particularly enjoyed collecting Franklin Half Dollars and would go to banks to ask for half dollar rolls to search. He was a bit reserved, but very intelligent and enjoyed talking about matters of the world. He wasn't afraid to share his opinion and as long as you showed him that your opinion came from an intelligent effort at researching, he was willing to listen. He kept our inboxes full with educational and political emails that just made you stop and go “oh boy, here comes another email from John!” John's foremost thought was learning and sharing what he knew with the world. John retired from the Air Force and passed on a legacy of grandchildren and even great grandchildren serving in the Air Force and the Marines. John was a dear friend, husband, and father, and will be missed by all.

2008

Joe passed away peacefully on March 11, 2008.  He was more than just Mel's loving husband for 57 years, the father of six and a grandfather; Joe was the quintessential WINS ambassador.  A baseball player in his early years, successful banker and senior staff member of the Treasury Department, he loved numismatics and WINS, and felt that all WINS members were part of his extended family.  Joe opened his heart and home to any member attending one of the many hobby-related shows in the area, and went out of his way to encourage member participation in all WINS events.

Joe began sharing his lifelong collection by giving away pieces of it in what he called his "Hat Drawing" conducted during WINS auctions for participating members, (a feature being continued by WINS members).  His passion in recent years had been a quest to obtain one example of every FAO/Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations coin produced, but it quietly changed to the pursuit of Bust half dollars.  Joe had a burning passion for every facet of the hobby and enjoyed sharing knowledge about all things hobby-related on both the WINS email lists and in private.  He was particularly adamant about introducing young collectors to the hobby.

Joe was one of the great people, not only in numismatics, but also in life: one of those very few genuinely altruistic persons.  He will be greatly missed and truly deserves the title, "Mr. WINS".

On January 19, 2006, we lost a very valuable member and friend - Steve (Catman) Kaden, WINS#336.  A very generous and giving person, Steve was always ready to share his knowledge and help others, and well-known for his efforts to bring numismatics to young collectors. The Young Numismatists he has introduced and nurtured in the hobby will be his legacy.

In spite of numerous illnesses, Steve was always willing to help others or just share a joke or a laugh. It takes a special person to overcome his own adversity and find joy in life and friends. Steve was this type of person. His sense of humor will be sorely missed. Steve always seemed to be able to find laughter in everything. He touched many lives in so many ways and will always be remembered with love and respect.

She wasn't a coin collector and she wasn't even a WINS member, but Linda Diedrich, the dYneX internet group (dynamic expressions designs & the dynexgroup server) owner, provided WINS free domain hosting fom the early days in June of 2000.  Although she wasn't a coin collector, Linda was very impressed by what the WINS founding group were trying to accomplish and by the "family oriented" collecting environment they wished to create.  She was so impressed that the WINS web site became a client she proudly referred to that represented her "family oriented" server environment.  She also provided WINS behind the scenes support with the database setup, the DOMO email lists and any scripting software we needed.  Linda died of complications resulting from a brain tumor and subsequent post-biopsy infection, early Tuesday morning, August 24, 2004.

Pete Bishal, passed away on the morning of October 12th, 2003. He had been attending the WESPNEX coin show in New York and died from an apparent heart attack just before leaving his hotel room to set up for the Sunday morning show.

Anybody that knew Pete could easily verify he was "DaNutt", even Pete’s business card listed his company name as "DaNutts".  Often loud and boisterous, he was always quick with the jokes and loved a good time. Pete is credited with coining the name CONECA and was a distinguished researcher of Morgan Dollars.