One Great Guy!!

This is Alan Winkeljohn, more fondly known as Wink. He is one dedicated volunteer! Wink joined my group at the very beginning in 2001. Like Betty, he has stuck with this work through thick and thin, cold, snow, heat, up hills and down.


Wink's background is in real estate as he has been a residential broker, a Qualifying broker, and deals in commercial real estate. His son owns a Mixed Arts training center and manages Holly Holmes, the famous female boxer. But most importantly is how Wink approaches any job he takes on. Just as in real estate, he is thoroughly knowledgeable, dedicated and committed to getting a job done. And done the right way!


Since 2006, Wink and I have worked diligently creating a list of all the burial sites in the state of New Mexico. I had been asked by the State of New Mexico to verify the list they had at that time, which only numbered about 300. Since then Wink has sought out and documented over 1200 burial sites. He relentlessly tracks down each cemetery on a topographic map, uses the internet to verify position, logs the GPS as well as directions to each and every cemetery. This has taken hundreds of hours of his precious time. However, due to his diligence, we (and the state) now have a verifiable and accurate list. This never existed before. And he has been known to physically go out somewhere in the state and track down an errant cemetery. Nothing like an 'eyes-on' verification!

Wink is such a blessing to me because I know I can ask him about a cemetery and always get the RIGHT answer, never a guess. And Wink is so kind - he never gets tired of me asking him for help, even if I repeat myself!


Wink has lived in New Mexico about 50 years (born in Ohio) and loves Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas. His parents were Alfred and Mary Winkeljohn (both at Gate of Heaven) and he has four sons: Jeff in Virginia, Mike in Albuquerque, Tim in Colorado, and Andrew in Arizona. He has always wanted to visit North or South Dakota and his favorite state is Idaho. Favorite book is Hunt for Red October and favorite movie is Dirty Dancing. He has five grandchildren which he is very proud of.

He says that he has stayed with the Tombstone group because he likes the challenge as well as the 'live' people in the group! Funny guy! Thank you Wink for years of help, love, support, jokes and your smiles.