by Joseph P. Tartaro
Francis Winters
Executive Editor
Francis G. “Red” Winters, 89, onetime national coordinator of the group which led the 1977 reform movement that transformed the National Rifle Association into the political powerhouse it is today, passed away at his Houston, TX, home on May 3.
He was presented with a Defender of Liberty Award by the Second Amendment Foundation at the 2013 Gun Rights Policy Conference in Houston.
A native and lifelong resident of Houston , Winters graduated from Rice Institute (later renamed Rice University) in 1944 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He served in the Navy during World War II and was assigned to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, where he worked as a mechanical engineer. His primary focus was vibration management of the vacuum-tubedriven electronics onboard ships, caused by the firing of big guns. He managed to solve that problem for the Battleship Texas, enabling it to return to action.
After the war, Winters went into the Naval Reserves and entered The University of Texas to pursue his Masters in Mechanical Engineering, which he earned in 1949. While at UT, he met his wife Nell. She passed away in 2007 after 58 years of marriage.
Winters started working with his father in the telephone industry in 1952. Together, they ran three East Texas telephone companies which they later merged into Texas Telephone and Telegraph Company, which eventually became part of Verizon. He was very active in the independent telephone company industry, eventually becoming president of the Independent Telephone Pioneers Association in the early 1970s.
Winters was passionate about American civil liberties, especially the citizen’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. He understood and frequently wrote that this right was not about hunting or home safety but served as a balance, enabling American citizens to keep their federal government in check. After the 1977 reform effort, he was active in NRA affairs, and served on the NRA Board of Directors, its Finance Committee, and as a highly respected advisor on the Constitution to other pro-gun organizations such as the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep & Bear Arms. He also attended major gun issue scholars and writers conferences.
Winters was co-founder and president of the Greater Houston Sportsmen’s Coalition, which evolved into the Francis Winters, national pro-gun leader, dies at 89 Greater Texas Sportsman’s Coalition, one of the first Second Amendment legislative lobbying groups. For more than 40 years, he lobbied national and Texas legislators regarding Second Amendment issues and wrote extensively on the history and true meaning of our US Constitution. He was a charter member of the Texas Army, a reenactment and historical group focused on educating others about and preserving the significance of the Texas War for Independence.
He also enjoyed hunting deer and elk, fishing, and the family vacation home in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He also found time to serve on the boards of many business and charitable organizations.
Survivors include his three daughters (Ann Winters, Susan Winters Hemfelt, and Janice Winters Price), 3 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, nieces and nephews and their children, and cousins.
Funeral services were conducted on May 12 at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, with a private internment afterward. In lieu of customary remembrances, memorials may be made to the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Coalition, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, or The Blue Bird Circle “Clinic Research” fund.
