Carving Out a Life as Full as His Times

Dana S. Winters, 74, is a woodcarver whose type of work--or humor--is not likely to be found anywhere else.

For instance, each piece of a chess set he recently completed after two years of work has the face of a real person.

Of course, his face is on one of the kings.

One queen has the face of Vampira, and the others have faces of his former classmates at Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in speech and writing.

Woodcarving, which Winters has taught, is just one of the accomplishments of the Huntington Beach man, who has made a habit of changing his career goals and personal pursuits.

After serving as a B-25 pilot flying bombing missions over France and Germany during World War II, Winters became a teacher at Whittier High School and later its principal.

After what he called a “little burnout,” Winters joined a company that sold school graduation rings and soon became its West Coast sales manager.

“I was making 18 times more money than working as a principal,” he said.

Then Winters struck out on his own and moved to Anchorage, where he ran a gold business. “After a few years, I left,” he said. “I was tired of the constant darkness.”

During those years, Winters kept his hand in art, especially watercolor painting, which both his parents enjoyed.

In fact, during the war years, he enrolled in the Royal Arts Academy in London to study watercolor painting. After his return to the States, Winters had one-man shows of his watercolors in Pasadena and Los Angeles.

In another phase of his life, Winters wrote specialized industrial arts curricula for Long Beach City College. He also retired as an off-campus dean for Chaffey College.

He found a new outlet working with his son-in-law, Michael Bradbury, who owned an antique furniture restoration business.

During the next six years, Winters learned to work with wood. He now carves in his workshop in a mobile home.

“Carving the chess set was a challenge,” said Winters, a member of the Huntington Beach chapter of the California Woodcarving Guild. “Not many people are doing what I do.”

That includes his recent carving of a life-size head of a Labrador retriever carrying a hand-carved shoe in its mouth.

To remind him of his service as a bomber pilot, Winters carved the likeness of his Air Corps officer’s cap. He sometimes wears it.

Winters’ life has included joy and tragedy. In Long Beach, where he was born, Winters met his future wife in the first grade. He and Virginia have been married for 48 years.

In 1984, their 3-year-old granddaughter, Laura Anne Bradbury, was kidnaped and murdered. The murder, the subject of national news coverage, was never solved.

Winters said his work with wood plays an important role in his retirement.

“When you no longer have a reason to get up in the morning, it’s like having a ship without a rudder,” he said. “Having something planned requires you to organize your thoughts and actions.”