Verna Mae Thurston was born in 1928 in Sacramento, CA, the only child of Roxie Mae Harvey and James Vernon Thurston.  She attended school in California and Spokane, and graduated from Spokane's Marycliff High School in 1944, working full time in the war years while getting her diploma in just 3 years. She later earned a degree from Spokane Community College.  Verna met Marvin Winton while he was a recruit at Farragut Naval Training Station.  They married after he was mustered out of the service in 1946 and moved to be near his large extended family in California.  Verna and Marv were married for 56 years until his death in 2002.  Their only daughter, Terry, was born in Fresno, California in 1947.

The family moved to Spokane in 1952 where Verna joined the post war boom of putting her husband through school, then working full time in the years before it was the norm.  She was employed eventually and variously at the old "Ma Bell's" engineering office, as a grade school and high school substitute teacher, at Wessels Advertising Agency, and as a secretary for parishes in the Spokane Diocese.  Later she and Marvin traveled extensively in the U.S. with his work in the Farm Credit Administration, and enthusiastically traveled widely with family, from primitive camping to luxury cruises, creating a bottomless well of experiences and stories.  After retiring, Verna and Marv built a much loved and well used summer cabin on the Pend Oreille River near Ione.

Verna was exceptionally smart with an unbeatable vocabulary.  She did crosswords in ink, was unstoppable in Scrabble, mastered any number of crafts and hobbies, collected western art, had an unparalleled work ethic, volunteered in the early years at the Spokesman Christmas bureau and with the AARP's tax prep service.  She was an encyclopedia of family genealogy and stories tracing family lineage back past the 1700's.  Verna remained a fiercely independent force to the end of her life.

Verna passed September 29, 2019 and is survived by her daughter Theresa (husband Don), grandson Shawn (wife Holly), and great grand-children Tyler and Kaitlyn.  Special thanks for the care and comfort of Hospice of Spokane.  At her request, no services will be held with a family memorial at a later date.