A Lifetime of Service, A Moment of Celebration: Fred Winter, '69, Completes His Journey
By Tony Scott
When the NIU graduating class crossed the commencement stage in June 1969, Fred Winter should have been among them. Instead, he was in Texas, training with the U.S. Air Force.
This past weekend, 57 years later, Winter, ’69, finally walked across the commencement stage alongside fellow Huskie alumni.
“It had always been something I wanted to do, but between a job, raising a family, and some health issues the idea got pushed aside,” Winter said. “I decided this is the time to ask, and I was told yes, you can attend. I know my parents would have been proud of me for doing this and, with the support of my wife and family, I hope I can make them proud also.”
Winter grew up in suburban Maywood and graduated from Proviso East High School. Coming from a working-class family — his father a Firestone tire salesman and his mother a secretary for Canada Dry — he became the first in his family to attend and graduate from college. His parents helped with tuition, but the rest was up to him.
“Every summer and at breaks from classes for four years I worked in the warehouse at the Canada Dry plant,” he said.
It took him a couple of years at NIU to find his direction.
“I didn't think I would make a good teacher or a businessman, so I leaned toward a liberal arts and sciences degree,” he said. “I subsequently found an interest in earth sciences and made that my major with a minor in biological sciences.”
Several professors shaped his path, including Aubrey Steven Messenger, George P. Stevens, Buddy Ross Guest and Ruben L. Parson.
“I have vivid memories of a soils class from Dr. Messenger,” he said. “We took a field trip in the fall to a very cold Fargo, North Dakota. It's not every day you get to dig into the ground and get soil samples, but I enjoyed doing it.”
He also recalled how Dr. Stevens’ cartography class proved useful in his career, but it was Dr. Guest’s aerial photography and mapping course that changed everything.
“It directly led me to my profession working in public service,” he said. “I still have the textbook with my notes.”
Parson, though tough, had the greatest influence.
“He was my mentor and convinced me to pursue my major, but he was stubborn and very set in his ways,” Winter said. He still remembers challenging a test question he believed he answered correctly. “It didn't make any difference — he said, 'you got it wrong and that's it.' I still think I was right.”
During his time at NIU, Winter was inducted into Gamma Theta Upsilon, spent countless hours studying in Swen Parson Hall, and played intramural sports.
In the summer of 1967, while on vacation, he met Katherine Jean Kaufman, nicknamed Kit, at a dude ranch in Colorado.
“We did not get along at first — she thought I was stuck up — but after a while we started clicking, and in early 1968 I persuaded her to move to DeKalb,” he said.
Kit worked at the Wurlitzer Piano factory, and the couple enjoyed NIU football games, concerts and campus life. Their relationship deepened after Kit suddenly needed an emergency appendectomy.
“She was a thousand miles from home with few friends, and I was a college student trying to graduate,” he said. “It was the kind of situation that really brought us together, and in late April 1969 we were married. So, while it seemed to be a whirlwind romance, our marriage has lasted an amazing 57 years.”
By the end of his senior year, Winter found himself one credit short and had to return for the fall of 1968. He was disappointed but finished his coursework and received his degree in the mail in January 1969.
Around the same time, his draft notice for the Vietnam War arrived.
Winter chose to enlist in the U.S. Air Force, an option available to those who had been drafted, and his NIU education immediately proved valuable.
“When the recruiter said they had a need for photo interpreters, I thought this was a perfect fit as I had taken that aerial photography course,” he said. “This is the reason that my education at NIU played such an important role in my life.”
After basic and technical training, he was assigned to the 544th Aerospace Reconnaissance Technical Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. As a non-commissioned officer, he spent four years providing highly classified targeting information to military commanders and war planners.
While stationed at Offutt, he and Kit welcomed two children: their daughter Michelle and son Doug.
After reaching the rank of staff sergeant, Winter left the military to pursue similar work in the civilian sector. He joined the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C., as a photo interpreter and later retired in 2015 from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. During his career, Winter briefed high-ranking military officers and presented intelligence-related briefings at foreign and domestic military conferences.
“During my civilian career I received a number of awards, but my most cherished award was the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal,” he said. “At one point our team made an important discovery that went all the way up to the office of President Obama where it was briefed as part of the President's Daily Brief.”
He explained, "The most interesting event in my career was when I was asked to provide imagery related evidence concerning the violation of an export agreement between the U.S. and a foreign country. The violation was reported in major newspapers and the foreign country was fined."
Looking back, Winter credits NIU for laying the foundation for everything that followed.
“If you asked me what being a graduate from NIU meant to me I would say quite a bit,” he said. “Being a student at NIU was a source of pride. I never intended to go there just to get a degree; I wanted my education to be the stepping stone to my future endeavors — and it was.”
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