Major (Maj.) Magnolia Winkler:

Maj. Winkler was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and raised in Wrightsville, a small rural town south of Little Rock.

She graduated from Wilbur D. Mills High School in 1977 with honors and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in May 1994. She became the first African American officer in the Arkansas Air National Guard and the 189th Airlift Group. She is also a proud lifetime member of the UALR Alumni Association.

After high school, Maj. Winkler attended Philander Smith College as a part-time student while working at Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance Company and at Southwestern Bell. On August 12, 1978, Magnolia enlisted in the Air National Guard as a traditional Guardsman for military tuition assistance. She completed Basic Military Training and attended Technical Training School, graduating from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi in January 1979.

Her first assignment as an Administrative Specialist was in the 189th Air Refueling Group at Little Rock Air Force Base. In November 1981, she transferred to the 189th Security Flight to perform similar duties until assuming an Active-Duty Guard Reserves (AGR) role as an Air Operations Resource Management Specialist in Current Operations, Scheduling and Plans section in the 189th Operations Group in October 1986. While faithfully serving in this position, she balanced her other roles as mother, wife, and student. In February 1992, she resigned her full-time position in the Air Command and Control section to finally pursue her goal of becoming an Air National Guard officer.

Maj. Winkler faced several unexpected challenges along the way, from impending age restrictions to AFOQT score modifications, and even the possibility of not being placed for an officer job assignment (an important prerequisite for enrolling in an officer training school). Despite these hurdles, she and her military colleagues and superiors remained persistent when others might have given up. Their dedication paid off on September 30,1993, when Maj. Winkler graduated from the Academy of Military Science in Knoxville, Tennessee becoming the first African American female officer in the Arkansas Air National Guard and the 189th Airlift Group. She was commissioned a second lieutenant. A personal letter she received from former governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, recognized this memorable occasion.

Maj. Winkler’s groundbreaking efforts to become an officer began in 1987 when she learned there were no Black female officers in the Arkansas Air National Guard. In 1988, after attending a Total Quality Management (TQM) training course, she spearheaded and organized an informal group of Black co-workers to create unity among each other and their families. Two years later, the Minority Affairs Subcommittee (MASC) evolved as an official organization operating under the Social Actions section in the 189th Airlift Group until 1994. MASC’s two-fold agenda served to promote minority recruitment by emphasizing the need for minority male and female officers and to create awareness of career opportunities in the Arkansas Air National Guard in the local minority communities. As a result of these efforts, minorities rose through the ranks as officer and enlisted in the Air National Guard.

In March 1995, Maj. Winkler completed the Joint Public Affairs Officer Course at the Defense Information School, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, allowing her to serve as Chief of Public Affairs in duty assignment for the 189th Airlift Group, October 1993-June 1995, the National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit, July 1995 – January 2006, and the 189th Airlift Wing, February 2006-August 2008.

During this same period, Maj. Winkler began a career as an insurance claims representative with State Farm Insurance Company, working there until 2000. In May 2000-April 2002, she worked ADSW at Camp Robinson with the National Guard Marksmanship Training Unit where she aggressively led both Air and Army NG PA activities for media coverage and provided back up support for other positions.

In 2000, she conducted an internal audit of the NGMTC’s Weapons Security Requirement Home Storage Program and created new standards in accordance with Gen. Schultz’s guidelines. Her analysis report received an “outstanding” rating from the MTC commander and the PEC commandant.

In MTU Public Affairs, specifically, she left an indelible footprint. She replaced 10–15-year-old antiquated media equipment with new digital equipment to allow MTU photojournalist access to high-quality images more quickly and more cost effectively than ever. In addition, she received her Level II Network Security Certification and planned, supervised, and implemented the “first-ever” Armed Forces Skill-at-Arms Meeting and Winston P. Wilson Online Registration, making it possible for over 800 competitors to register online from either a personal computer or a military component system prior to the October 2001 marksmanship events.

Shortly thereafter, Winkler assumed the role of MTC’s Website Manager and assisted in establishing guidelines and procedures for submitting and posting match programs, match results and press releases to the marksmanship website in a timely manner, thus increasing overall readership by 40%.

In October 2001, she planned and coordinated both civilian and military media visits to MTC during the ANG Counter-Sniper Course. This coverage resulted in worldwide media exposure for the MTC Sniper course.

In December 2001, she personally contributed to the success of LTG Davis’s Year of Diversity Together We Can CD-ROM project with the National Guard Bureau. The CD was used at the ANG Senior Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. to highlight LTG Davis’s declaration of the year 2002 as the National Guard’s Year of Diversity, and 6000 copies were produced for distribution to every Air National Guard and Army National Guard installation.

By 2002, Maj. Winkler felt a nudge to return to the insurance profession, assuming a role as Master Claims Specialists for Nationwide Insurance in Houston, Texas. She quickly progressed to the state claims trainer position for the Texas Operation in Dallas in 2003 where she eagerly trained new hires and created a “first-ever” claims recorded interview guide for all loss types for companywide distribution. Her appointment as Nationwide’s United Way Chair also led to a significant increase in charitable donations for the Texas operation.

In 2005, she assumed a role as claims manager in Houston for four years and successfully managed claims personnel in the fourth largest city in the nation. In 2009-2016, she transferred to the Elite Catastrophe Team for national deployments as a Catastrophe Field Specialist and often travelled to disaster-riddled areas to resolve catastrophe claims. While handling claims in the Catastrophe unit, she was tapped as a spokesperson by Nationwide’s media personnel and assisted in making tornado and hurricane safety videos co-produced by The Weather Channel. These videos were featured in companywide publications as well as on other media platforms. She has received numerous insurance claims and volunteer awards during her tenure in the insurance industry, including the Mayor’s Hurricane Ike Cleanup Volunteer Award and Nationwide’s Texas Diversity and Inclusion Award in Houston.

Over the course of her military and civilian careers, Maj. Winkler devoted her time to a variety of charitable organizations to help those in need.

When the COVID-19 pandemic plagued the world in March 2020, she became restless when she heard cries for help from family members and friends in several small rural communities where she grew up. Many people living in rural areas south of Little Rock were suffering from a lack of food and COVID-19 immunizations. With God’s leading and her strong desire to help, she discussed the matter with her children and through much prayer, and God’s divine intervention, the Magnolia Tree of Hope (MTOH), Inc. was born in Texas.

In May 2020, with the help of the Arkansas Food Bank, MTOH formed a partnership with We Care of Pulaski County. Working together, these two non-profit organizations purchased bulk food items from the food bank, and from local grocers, to distribute to needy families and churches along the highway 365 S corridor in Southeast Pulaski County. To date, WCOPC, MTOH, and several board members and volunteers have successfully distributed over 283,931 pounds of food to needy families living in underserved rural communities.

Winkler loves to quote Dr. Maya Angelou’s “When you learn, teach; when you get, give,” since it so closely aligns to 17 passages in the Bible, most notably, Acts:20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Maj. Winkler has two children, Dawn Renee and Raymond, Jr., and four grandsons, Noah, Raymond III, Yoel, and Ezra. As a Texas resident, she regularly visits Little Rock to spend time with family and to attend Saint Mark Baptist Church where she is a member. She credits her success to God’s Grace, her father, and all her family members who, individually and collectively, have been her support and inspiration, encouraging her to “Just Do It.”

Maj. Winkler retired from the Arkansas Air National Guard in August 2008, with over 30 years of military service.