Winford grew up on a farm about
two miles east of Shipshewana along
with 12 other siblings and his parents.
His entrance into the working world
was through Brandenberry Market,
which was located where the Blue Gate
restaurant is currently. He worked
there through high school, got married shortly after graduation, and then
moved himself and his bride, Ulonda
(Mishler), to Denver, Colorado. They
lived there for a short time before realizing how much this area had to offer
and moved back to the area to raise
their family of three: Matt, Heather,
and Nathan.
Winford is currently an elder at
Emma Mennonite Church and is on the
Photos by
Justin Geigley
Yoder’s has a fully stocked paint
department
Board of Directors for Farmer’s State
Bank. He has also served on the Board
of Directors for the Shipshewana Retail
Merchants Association and was also on
the board for Menno-Hof.
Winford expressed his feelings
about working at the hardware with his
son, Nate, “It’s been great! I’m amazed
at how our minds work the same when
making decisions. I never would have
guessed that any of my children would
even want to be in business with me,
but here we are.”
Winford wanted to be sure to
thank the community, “I am very appreciative of our community! I see the
hardware and what we do here as an
investment in our community.”
The younger of the two Jones,
Nate, grew up in the area as well and
was part of the Westview School District. Following high school, he went to
Indiana University and graduated with
a degree in Accounting and Finance.
Nate moved to Indianapolis to work in
an accounting firm as an auditor and
had no plans of moving back to the
area. His father never pressured him to
come back and work for him. Rather,
Nate made that decision on his own
when he realized that auditing was not
what he wanted as a permanent career
choice. He told Winford, “I’m coming
back home and I really hope you have
something for me to do.” The timing
continued on next page
A sampling of their plates
The Hometown Treasure ·· Nov.. ‘11 · pg 15
The Hometown Treasure Nov.