Last Updated on December 25, 2024 9:06 am
The Watauga County Historical Society (WCHS) continues to expand its roster of Hall of Fame inductees for the year 2024, building on an initiative started in 2022 as part of Boone’s 150th celebrations. WCHS is delighted to announce that William Ralph “Billy Ralph” Winkler III (born 1951) has been selected as the third of its three inductees for 2024.
Billy Ralph Winkler was born in Boone, North Carolina, one of four children born to William Ralph “Bill” Winkler, Jr., and Barbara Farthing Winkler. Raised in Boone, Billy Ralph graduated from Watauga High School in 1969. While there, he was active with a band of local musicians known as “The Undecided,” who won third place in Watauga High School’s inaugural Jaycee Battle of the Bands in 1968. Winkler then entered Appalachian State University to study music; he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education there in 1973.
Billy Ralph’s first teaching job was at Davie County High School as a band director. He continued in this position until June 1978, then came home to teach at Bethel and Mabel Elementary Schools in Watauga County from 1978 to 1980. In August 1980, he moved to Watauga High School, where he was the Band Director until he retired in 2008. His impact on his students was profound and went beyond musical instruction, as exemplified by the social media comments of Glenn Hubbard, Billy Ralph’s former student: “When I place you on my list of all-time greatest teachers…, it’s not based solely on what you did in the classroom during scheduled class times (although that was great, too). It’s about what you modeled to me about what being a good, decent, thoughtful, intelligent, critical-thinking person looks like.”
Outside of his professional teaching pursuits, Billy Ralph has been a fixture of community service in Boone for his entire adult life, much of it centered around Boone’s signature outdoor drama, Horn in the West, produced each summer by the Southern Appalachian Historical Association (SAHA) based on a play written by Kermit Hunter in 1952. Winkler’s first job was at age 14 (in 1965), working to pick up garbage and set out chairs for Horn performances. It was here that he met his future wife, Rhonda Kent, who was a Horn usher; they married in 1976 in the Powderhorn Theater, a black box venue at Horn demolished in 2013. Children born to the couple include Ashley Winkler Mabe, Will Winkler, and Jesse Winkler Hall, all of whom have pursued music like their father.
This first position in 1965 led to his continued affiliation with Horn in the West in a variety of positions, including volunteering during his summer breaks as a teenager and young man to being the General Manager from 1979 to 1991 and Executive Producer of the production during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He also served for many years on the executive board of SAHA. In a 2022 interview, Billy Ralph said that he has always loved the venue, the play, and the message surrounding it. His work with the drama earned him the prestigious Mark R. Sumner Award by the Institute of Outdoor Dramas in 2010. In addition, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce bestowed the Ben Suttle Special Services Award, which recognizes the spirit of volunteerism in the local community, upon Winkler in 2022. Upon receiving the award, Winkler acknowledged that although he was not directly involved with the music at Horn until about 2020, he has always loved that part of the production. He also attributed his sense of obligation to Boone and Watauga County to the influence of his grandfather, who told him as a young man, “As the community is good to you, you have to give back to the community.”
Perhaps his most visible role in recent years has been as the director of the Watauga Community Band (WCB), a role he assumed in June 2018. The WCB plays a series of concerts each year, including a Veteran’s Day concert, Fourth of July parades in Boone and Blowing Rock, and Sunday afternoons at the Gazebo in Blowing Rock. Previously led by the late Steve Frank and now helmed by Billy Ralph, the WCB is involved with the Resort Area Ministries to provide summer concerts at area campgrounds. Over the years Billy Ralph has also conducted special choir events. One event was the Echo Park production of the musical “Tommy” in 2009, sponsored by the Living Water Christian Fellowship (Harvest House).
Billy Ralph’s work in the community has gone beyond his connections to Horn over the years. After losing a bid for the NC House in 1996, Billy Ralph served as a Watauga County Commissioner from 2004 to 2010, and in 2020, Winkler was inducted into the Watauga Democratic Party Hall of Fame. Billy Ralph also serves or has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Board of Directors to preserve the Mount Lawn Cemetery, the Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute Board, the New River Mental Health Association Board, the Mountain Home Music Board, and the Watauga County Library Board. He is also very active in the affairs of his local church. From 2008 to 2011, Billy Ralph was interim Director of Music at both First Baptist Church in Boone and Rumple Presbyterian Church in Blowing Rock. In 2011 he assumed the role of full-time Music Director and Treasurer at First Baptist.
Because of Billy Ralph Winkler’s remarkable role in shaping the cultural history of Boone and Watauga County during his lifetime, including his positive influence on the lives of so many young people who were educated by Winkler in his role as a band and music teacher, we are delighted to honor him with a well-deserved spot in WCHS’s Hall of Fame for 2024.
The WCHS Hall of Fame honors individuals, either living or dead, who have made significant and lasting contributions to Watauga County’s history and/or literature, including those whose efforts have been essential to the preservation of Watauga County’s history and/or literature. Honorees need not have been residents of Watauga County. The WCHS is particularly interested in honoring individuals who meet the above criteria but who may have been overlooked in traditional accounts of Watauga County’s history and literature, including women and people of color. Selections for this class were made from nominations submitted by members of the Digital Watauga Project Committee (DWPC) of WCHS as well as the public.
