Here is a Article from the Orange County CA Register newspaper that was written by Greg Hardesty on 29 Dec. 2005 about Don and Norma Winton when she was the Rose Bowl Queen of 1947.
NEWPORT BEACH - Being named Rose Queen in 1947 would profoundly change Norma Christopher's life.
How much, she had no clue.
Among the parade spectators that year was a 28-year-old named Don Winton, who grew up in Pasadena.
A budding sculptor, Winton had just gotten out of the U.S. Air Force and decided to take in the annual Tournament of Roses parade. He hadn't seen it in years.
"Wow," he thought as Christopher, an 18-year-old blonde, rolled by. "I've got to meet that girl."
Winton called a friend on the parade committee and proposed making a sculpture of each Rose Queen, starting with Christopher.
"How much will it cost us?" his friend asked.
"I'll do it for free."
Deal.
Christopher sat for four sittings with Winton. A year later, they married.
Wednesday, in the Corona del Mar cottage she has shared with her husband for 34 years, Norma Winton recalled her life as a Rose Queen. Although she won't be at today's annual Kodak Rose Queens Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena - "I think there's a time to graciously step aside," she said with a wink - she always will be a proud member of what she calls a "select sorority."
There are 11 Rose Queens living in Orange County, out of 61, according to Tournament of Roses officials. Winton is the sixth-oldest surviving Rose Queen.
She said the honor never leaves her.
"To me, there's a dignity to it," she said. "This isn't a competition about bathing suits or cheesecake. It's very classy."
People still ask Norma Winton about being Rose Queen.
"Sometimes friends will introduce me that way when I'm in grubby clothing, or having a bad-hair day," she said. "They'll mention it at the darnedest time."
Winton still is shocked at the attention.
"It was a great honor, and it still is," said Winton, who declined to give her age outright. "You do the math," she said, with a smile.
Winton was selected Rose Queen from a field of about 1,500 women ages 17 to 21.
"Some people cling to" winning the crown, she said. "My attitude is, I appreciate it - it was a wonderful honor, and I had lots of wonderful experiences, and met famous people like Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Shelly Winters.
"But life goes on. And it gets better and better. Life, for me, is getting richer. I wouldn't go back a day."
Winton grew up in Orange with a homemaker mother and a father who grew oranges and lemons. An only child, she was shy.
She was thinking of a career as a librarian after graduating from Orange High School when her parents moved to Pasadena.
Winton enrolled at Pasadena Junior College and studied music and drama.
Thoughts of being Rose Queen never crossed her mind, she said.
But she and the other females at her college were required to parade before a Rose Queen committee.
Five rounds later, Winton remained a contender and was in the final 25.
"My goal then was just to get tickets to the coronation ball," she said. "It was a very elegant affair."
Winton made the final seven - all princesses.
"I was very quiet, and trying not to be noticed," she said of the final round.
Judges considered such things as appearance, public speaking, academic achievement and community involvement.
When Winton was named Rose Queen, she was floored.
"They mistook my silence for poise," Winton said.
The honor gave her an immediate boost of self-confidence - and, soon, a date with a handsome sculptor.
She and Don have a son and daughter. And they have been married 57 years.
For Winton, that's her crowning achievement.
This article was written by Paula Voorhees on November 25, 1988 for Orange County Life about Don Winton and some of the famous people that he sculpted in his lifetime.
Historical Figures Get Together in Corona del Mar Studio
November 25, 1988|PAULA VOORHEES | Paula Voorhees is a regular contributor to Orange County Life.
Great figures are gathered in a studio in Corona del Mar.
Richard M. Nixon is here. So is George Burns. The affable Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, leans against a wall, smile lines etched deeply at the corners of his eyes. Daniel G. Aldrich, former chancellor of UC Irvine, perches on a desktop. A determined-looking Golda Meir sits on a chair, the pearls around her neck softening her features.
John F. Kennedy has been there. So were Hubert H. Humphrey and Otis Chandler. Bob Hope left for Las Vegas.
Over in the corner, Mickey Mouse smiles, crimson shorts adding a blush of color to an otherwise stark room.
What are they doing in Corona del Mar? All are plaster molds and are intimates of 69-year-old sculptor Don Winton--especially Mickey Mouse. He's been associating with the Disney creation for 40 years.
"Actually, sculpting Disney characters was how I got into this business--and almost out (of it) in a hurry," Winton said with a grin.
"My father was an alcoholic pharmacist who had a hard time keeping a job," said the sculptor matter-of-factly. "My mother died when I was 12, so my two brothers and I began supporting ourselves by the time I was 14.
"My twin brother, Ross, and my older brother, Bruce, also liked working with clay models. We started making and selling ceramic figures similar to Disney characters when I was a junior at Pasadena High School. By my senior year, we had a very profitable business going."
So profitable, in fact, that Disney management felt threatened, Winton said. "We received a letter from some very angry Disney people telling us to cease and desist. But, somehow, Walt Disney heard about us and sent a letter telling us to disregard the first letter and continue our operation. Although I never met him, Walt was very supportive of us. I'll always be grateful for that."
Grateful because the business begun in high school blossomed to support all three young men and their families until older brother Bruce bought out the twins in the early 1950s. Don and Ross went on to design and sculpt for other manufacturers
Although Winton still does work for cartoon-character licensees, in the past 10 years his work has turned somewhat political, a change due largely to his 17-year involvement with the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. "Although our church is Christian, we are very much involved with the Jewish faith and the struggle of Israel. We feel that the Jewish people were God's chosen people," he says.
In 1978, the church commissioned Winton to sculpt a bronze of Golda Meir to be presented on her 80th birthday. Although he prefers to work from sittings, in this instance he used photographs.
"I really hoped I would meet her at the presentation, but she was gravely ill in a hospital so the presentation was made to her personal secretary."
Soon after, other commissions arrived from Israel. Leonard Shane, an Orange County resident and a trustee of David Ben-Gurion University, contacted Winton to sculpt a statue for the university. Winton agreed but was surprised to learn his subject was to be the late Hubert H. Humphrey.
"I had to bite my lip the whole time I worked on that piece," Winton says with a chuckle. "I'm a dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican!"
A year later, he was commissioned to do a bust of David Ben-Gurion for the entrance to the university. The bust was sponsored by Shane and Calvary Chapel and presented by the chapel in 1985.
"Since Don has been involved with Israel and its many heroes, his heart has been more into his work," Norma Winton said. "It's one thing to be working on Mickey Mouse and another to be working on Golda Meir. It's an ennobling experience and it shows in Don's work."
Winton's future sculpting projects include 12 busts of Orange County pioneers for permanent display in the new section of the John Wayne Airport.
The idea was presented to Winton by Toren Segerstrom, great-grandson of C.J. Segerstrom. Segerstrom and Winton decided that the busts should represent pioneers in three categories of Orange County life: ranchers and farmers, builders and developers, and civic and cultural leaders. The concept is supported by the Orange County Historical Society as well as the Airport Commission and needs final approval from the Orange County Board of Supervisors, even though the cost of each piece will be borne by the family of the subject.
When asked what his favorite piece of work is, Winton looked around his studio at the plaster casts of Meir, Humphrey, Chandler, Nixon, Aldrich, Hope, Ben-Gurion, Ze'ev Jabotinsky (an early Zionist leader), Kennedy and others. His gaze returns lovingly to Mickey Mouse. His answer is not really surprising.
"I have no favorite piece. There are so many stories behind all these people and characters. Stories of courage and sacrifice, love and humor. Each time I sculpt I become emotionally involved in their life stories and as a result each piece is special to me. I guess they're all my favorite pieces."