Gerald, or Bucky, as he is known by his friends, was the oldest boy of two and nearly the middle child of nine children. His father was George B. Winkle and his mother was Mamie Kier. They moved to the Bare farm when Gerald was 2 in 1918. Gerald was born July 2, 1915 and still farms the old Bare farm near Sardinia. Thanks to his work and Lorena's, it is now the Winkle Farm and produces 60 beef calves from 60 crossbred cows and about 10,000 eggs which are sold to a varying clientele from the southwestern Ohio area on the 300 acre farm.

Ed is the oldest of three children and has a sister three years younger than him named Linda Jo. She is married to Fred Vollborn, who manages Bob Evans Ranch near Gallipolis, Ohio. His brother Jeff farms near Cedarville, Ohio and is married to Suzanne Townsley. They also have 2 boys and one girl, like Ed, and Fred and Linda have one daughter and one son.

Ed was always interested in science and what made things tick. He was one of the last in the area to build a crystal set radio and hid under the covers to listen to it. He taught himself Morse Code out of an ARRL manual and wanted to take the test for an amateur radio license. His dad told him he had an uncle he had not met that had his license and he would take him to meet him.

Paul Hummer, W8FKJ, was an instant hit with Ed and became his "Elmer." Since Paul felt it might be a conflict of interest to test his nephew for the Novice License, he took every precaution and made sure Eddie, as he was known then, would make the grade. Eddie made the grade, became WN8RQQ, and was hooked on communications. Ed became very proficient at Morse Code and holds certificates bearing receiving and sending to 70 words per minute. He later became WA8RQQ and was known as Radio Quack Quack at W8LT(Ohio State University), Field Days and on 75 meter SSB in the late seventies and early eighties.

Kids and work and other hobbies soon put that behind. Another hobby was tractor pulling. When Ed saw the cylinder head off of an Oliver tractor as a teenager, he understood those thick sleeves designed for thousands of hours of hard farm work could be bored out and greatly increase horsepower for pulling. He bored an Oliver 88 engine to 4 inches in 1973 and became state points champion in 1976. The 88 out-pulled every John Deere 4000, 4010, 4020 and 4030 in the Ohio State Tractor Puller's 7000 pound class.

Ed survived "student teaching on the job" at Blanchester, Ohio after 3 years at Ohio State and taught agriculture there until 1987. He was then named County Extension Agent for Agriculture and became very involved helping farmers and landowners maximize their investment by solving problems and designing profitable programs that worked on their farms and improved their living area and status.