More than 60 years after helping ship medication to hospitalized veterans during World War II, retired teacher Juanita Winston seeks to help those who serve.

“I feel there is no better person to help than a veteran,” she said.

Winston recently was named a Patriot of the Year for her financial support of Help Hospitalized Veterans, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. The California-based organization distributes therapeutic arts and crafts kits to veterans hospitals and encourages pen-pal relationships with hospitalized veterans.

The retired Muskogee teacher keeps her framed Patriot certificate on a mantel in her living room, along with plaques and certificates she’s received over the past few years. She also has an old school picture of herself standing with the second-grade class she taught at the old Houston Elementary School.

She said she wants her work and certificates to encourage young people to stay in school and find good jobs.

A Bixby native, Winston earned a teaching degree from Langston University and later worked for the U.S. Navy in Oakland, Calif., during World War II.

“We stocked Navy medical supplies and shipped them overseas to the veterans in the Pacific,” she said. “They were over there losing their lives for our freedom.”

After working during the day, she took evening classes at University of California at Berkeley, she said.

“I think this job is what I remember best, because I was helping veterans who were giving their lives,” she said.

Shortly after the war, she worked for a while for the Internal Revenue Service before moving back to Oklahoma to teach. She taught at Houston and Franklin elementary schools.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email