Ruben Hines Winstead was born in Smith County, Mississippi. He married Nellie Rachel Vinzant in the same county on September 26, 1916 when he was 28 years old and later had five children with her. Ruben was drafted into World War I when he was a resident in Nowata County, Oklahoma, USA. He had a medium physical build, medium height, light brown hair, and blue eyes. In 1926, he resided at 8 E Chambers in Cleburne, Texas. At the time of the 1940 Census, Ruben worked as a salesman for real estate and used his wages to rent a house at Colorado Avenue, Mercedes Hidalgo, Texas for his family. After Nellie died in 1942, he remarried to Jewelle Noblin Winstead in and had no children with her. Ruben died at North Raleigh Street in Forest and was buried in the Brandon Cemetery. According to the 1910 Census, Nellie Vinzant Winstead was born in Spinola, Smith, Mississippi. Her father’s name was AJ Vinzant and her mother’s name was Mollie G. Vinzant. She had nine siblings, namely Momie Vinzant, Navine Vinzant, Bessie Vinzant, Broodfork Vinzant, Walton Vinzant, Malcolm Vinzant, Carey Vinzant, Paul Vinzant, and Margaret Vinzant. By the 1940 Census, Nellie had completed her third year of college. Nellie Winstead died in Brandon, Rankin County and was buried in the Brandon Cemetery.
Jewelle Noblin Winstead was born January 24, 1900 in Scott County, Mississippi. She completed four years of high school, and at the 1940 Census, she was recorded to live as a boarder in Smith County and worked as a saleslady, making $700 annually, less than the national median average of $940. She died on December 16, 1988 in Pulaski, Scott County, Mississippi and was buried in the Brandon Cemetery.
Siblings
Hubert was the second oldest of his four other siblings, who were Mary Grace Winstead (June 21, 1917, October 30, 1979), Pauline Brown (August 12, 1921 - November 30, 2002), Dorothy Robbins (March 17, 1923 - December 31, 2017), and Carl Johnston Winstead Sr. (February 15, 1925 - January 14, 2012). Mary Grace Winstead was born in Oklahoma on June 21, 1917. According to the 1930 Census, at the age of 12, Mary was living in Mercedes, Hidalgo, Texas, US, with the rest of her immediate family. She attended school. She graduated in the Class of 1935 of Donna High School, where she went on to attend Edinburgh Junior College. In May 1938, Mary married John Hemby May. John was drafted into World War 2 on October 16, 1940, leaving Mary as the person in charge of the household. Mary had a child named Johnnie Nellie May around 1939. Mary died on October 30, 1979 and is buried in the Brandon Cemetery in Rankin County, Mississippi. Doris Pauline “Polly” Winstead Brown was born in Burleson, Johnson County, Texas. She married Lonnie Edward Brown, who was born on September 22, 1923 and died on June 20, 1991. She died on November 30, 2002 in Somerset, Kentucky, and was buried in the Oakdale Baptist Church Cemetery in Langford, Rankin County, Mississippi. According to a Clarion Ledger Obituary, when Polly moved to Brandon, Mississippi she was a sophomore in high school. It was there she met and later married Lonnie Edward Brown. Polly had been a Girls Scouts leader, a Sunday school teacher, and a devoted wife and mother. She was an expert seamstress and received abundant joy in knitting dozens of sweaters for her family. These were her hobbies along with reading, Scrabble, and hearing the latest news from her children and grandchildren (Clarion Ledger). She had two children, Jeannie Brown, who married Lonnie Edward Brown on March 1, 1970, and Eddie Brown. Dorothy Nell Winstead Robbins was born on March 17, 1923 in La Feria, Cameron County, Texas on St. Patrick’s Day. Dorothy attended high school in Brandon, Mississippi. During World War II, she received a Civil Service Appointment to the War Price and Rationing Board in Brandon where she met her future husband. Dorothy also attended Jackson Commercial Business College. She married Russell E. Robbins during World War II on November 18, 1944. After Russell had become a pharmacist at the University of Mississippi, Dorothy and Russell moved to Morton, Mississippi in 1948, and together opened Russell’s Drugs pharmacy. Dorothy and Russell were active in the community and their church, Morton United Methodist Church. Dorothy was very active in all civic and church events and programs. Dorothy served in the Morton Culture Club, the PTA, and the Methodist Women's Group in different capacities, including as president of all three organizations. Dorothy and Russell built a new home in Pulaski, just outside Morton, in the late 1960s. She died on December 31, 2017 at the age of 94 at the Cedars Personal Care Home in Soso, Mississippi and was buried at the Jones County, Mississippi at the Shiloh Cemetery.
Carl Johnston Winstead Sr. (left) was born in La Feria, Cameron County, Texas. He grew up in Mississippi and attended Mississippi State University, and later graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Civil Engineering. Carl served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he was employed by the American Bridge Company and then employed at Topper & Griggs, where he worked for 37 years as a structural engineer until his retirement in 1987. Carl married Celinda Barker Tilley in 1946, and they raised four children: Hubert Winstead, Lu-cinda Winstead, Carl J. Winstead, and Nancy Winstead. Carl was active in the Republican Town Committee, Boy Scouts, and Lion Club, as well as being a cemetery trustee and an active member of the Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church for more than 59 years. He died on January 14, 2012 and he is buried in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut at the Riverside Cemetery. Spouse
Annie Ruth Wright was born March 19, 1920 in Henderson, Texas to Jesse Travis Wright (January 27, 1896 - December 21, 1978) and Ruth Boggess Wright (November 17, 1898 - March 20, 1977). Her parents owned a dry goods store for several years near Carthage, Texas, until they sold it around March 25, 1943. In 1940, Annie was in her second year of college at Nacogdoches Teachers College. She graduated at the end of May of 1941. According to the local newspaper, the Carthage Panola Watchman, she was “quite a young lady and everyone that knows her respects her and admires her… we should all be proud of the hundreds of girls around throughout the nation like MISS ANNIE RUTH WRIGHT”. Annie pursued her teaching career, ultimately being elected to teach English at Gary High School July 18th, 1941. Annie died on December 13, 1996 in Marshall, Texas and was buried in Lakewood Memorial Park.
Pictured below is Dorothy Nell Winstead Robbins, Hubert's sister.