Felix J. Winters

Felix Joseph Winters, 88, of Hampton, CT died on October 5, 2016. Born in Jewett City on May 30, 1928, the son of Gertrude and Joseph Wojtczuk, Felix was the middle of nine children, and remained ?the glue? of his family throughout the rest of his life. His siblings were his best friends. Graduating from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1952, Felix was immediately drafted into the U.S. Army, his impending tour of duty in the Korean War preempted when he was enlisted to teach English commands to troops in Puerto Rico, where he and his beloved wife of 54 years, Claire McDermott, spent the first years of their marriage, where they cultivated many lifelong friendships and a love of this paradise island which they returned to nearly every year afterwards, together and with their children and grandchildren. Felix started his career in education, teaching middle school students at Horace Porter School in Columbia, he earned a masters? degree in administration and served as principal at Chaplin Elementary School, Van Buren Moody School in Middletown, and Sweeney School in Willimantic. He was also a consultant on State Department of Education research projects. After retiring, he served as a convalescent home administrator and spent more time on his second career as a real estate broker in his own business, Northeast Realty, and later for local agencies. Felix and Claire purchased and renovated their rambling Victorian farmhouse in 1956, residing there for over a half of a century. Their children, grandchildren, and so many of their friends were very fortunate to grow up in the surroundings of that marvelous home where Claire cultivated beautiful flowers, and Felix maintained the world?s cleanest pool, and which many neighborhood children enjoyed. Felix served on the Hampton Elementary School Board of Education, and as its Chairman, on the Democratic Town Committee and the Zoning Board of Appeals, and was a communicant of Our Lady of Lourdes Church. He loved watching the Boston Red Sox and UCONN basketball, growing vegetables, and being the quintessential patriarch by taking care of his family. He was predeceased by his parents, his wife, his sisters Vina Dudek, Janet Wagner, Celia Parker, and Alice D?Andria, his brothers Frank and Stanley Wojtcuk. Felix leaves his children, Michael Sean Winters of Maryland, Dayna McDermott Arriola, and her husband Juan, of Hampton, his grandchildren Jill Eileen Dumas of Washington, D.C., Sarah McDermott and India Arriola of Hampton, his sister Nancy Wildowsky of Brooklyn, and his brother, Albert Wojtcuk of Taftville. Calling hours will be Tuesday, October 11, 2016 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson St. (Rte. 195) Willimantic, CT and a Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 41 Cedar Swamp, Hampton, CT, burial to follow at North Cemetery. Memorial donations in Felix?s honor may be made to Our Lady of Lourdes Church.