Doctor W. P. Winters ~ Mayor of the Month ~ August 2011

We were not able to find a regular biography of Dr. W. P. Winters.  We searched the internet and talked with people who knew him.  The following is a mixture of items we were able to find.  Peter Hafen remembers him to be a very jovial fellow.  He and his second wife, Mae were frequent visitors at the home of  Peter's "Uncle Dutch" and Aunt Johanna Hafen.



William Philitis Winters was born 24 April 1868. 
Father Henry Adelbert Winters,

Mother: Elizabeth Williams.
He married Nancy Jane Cummings in 1895. She Passed away in 1946.
He married Mary M. Wilcox Patterson in 1947.  Mary (Mae) was also from Mt. Pleasant.
Mae was the daughter of Joseph and Candace Rowe Wilcox.
Candace Rowe Wilcox was a local midwife and assisted Dr. Winters.

He died 10 July 1952 in Price, Utah.  He is buried in Mt. Pleasant.

He started his medical career in Castle Dale, but later moved his practice to Mt. Pleasant

Dr. Winters Hospital as it looks today.  Location:  149 South 100 West, Mt. Pleasant, Utah

News of his aged  father's dying.

1923 He was proprietor of Carbon Hospital in

Price, Utah

~~~~~~~~~

Mayor Winters and Prohibition 

~~~~~~~~~

Below is a notice of his second Marriage.

He married Mary M. Wilcox Patterson in 1947.

Doctor Winters and his second wife, Mae walking down the street. .
submitted by Marilain Black

Marilain Black, a granddaughter of Mary (May) Wilcox, second wife to doctor Winters shares with us a couple of interesting    stories: 

He (Doctor Winters) was her sweetheart before he became a Dr. I understand she married Joseph Sharp Patterson, Sr. on the rebound. 

My Great Grandmother, Candace Rowe Wilcox raised 8 children my grandmother

Mary M. Wilcox, was the eldest child and was 20 when her father died.  She (greatgrandmother)  became the local midwife and helped Dr. Wm. P. Winters (her oldest daughter's first sweetheart) when he was not available.  She was elected as City Treasurer on the Democratic ticket in Nov. 1987

Mary M. Wilcox Patterson  and Dr. Wm. P. Winters met again about 1947 and were married in Pocatello, Idaho by Bishop Henry B. West on 16 Jul 1947.  Dr. Winters and my grandmother

went on a honeymoon to California where his daughter, Louise, lived.  They were offered to be on a program for the oldest newlyweds but my grandmother refused.

He was 80 and she 79.  On their way back to Utah, they passed a terrible accident and stopped to administer first aid.  It was so bad, Dr. asked my grandmother to rip off her underclothes and used them to pack in the wounds.  Dr. Winters died after they had been married five years on 13 Jul 1952 in Price, Utah.  She died

8 Feb 1959 in Salt Lake City.

NOTE:  My grandmother was never called Mary.  We knew her by Dana and know she was called Mae by others.   

The following are items taken from the History of Mt. Pleasant by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf.


p. 195

In 1908, Dr. August Lundberg purchased the first two auto­mobiles brought to Mt. Pleasant. The first, a "Lokomobile" was, however, of short duration, for in the course of a month or so he purchased another, this was a large red touring car called the "Northerner."

In 1909, Dr. W. P. Winters purchased a Buick, and Frank Waldermar an E. M. F. About a year or so later, Christian Hansen purchased a ,Buick, Showman Longsdorf, a Case, and F. C. Jensen, a Cadillac. Among other early cars were those owned by Lyman Aldrich, Wallace Petty and Hyrum Merz. All these cars were very popular with the pleasure seekers and a great deal of time was spent on the road. 

p. 238  1932-33. Mayor, W. P. Winters; Recorder, Daniel Rasmussen; Treasurer, Pearl Larsen; Councilors, H. P. Olsen, four years;Ed. Johnston, John Fowles, Willis N. Madsen, E. W. Wall.