Ben Winter November 18 On this date in 1927, author and cowboy Ben Winter was born in Fox, Okla., second child of Charles and Hazel Winter. Growing up on a farm, he enjoyed roping cows and horseback riding as a youth. A quote above his rural Oklahoma elementary school entryway stuck with him, a catalyst for a lifetime love of learning and friendly debate: “Knowledge Once Gained Casts a Light Beyond its Own Immediate Boundaries.” Winter joined the Air Force in his late teens and worked in a print shop in Okinawa, Japan, during the Korean War. In 1949, Ben “stole” an Air Force buddy’s photo of a beautiful woman, Joyce Lynn Sadler, from Homer, Okla., whom he married that year. They have five children: Schahara Suzanne, Scheryl Sharisse, Scharmagne Suzette, Christopher Thomas and Schaunon Simone, along with grand- and great-grandchildren. An entrepreneur at heart, even while employed in the oilfield, Ben was a successful horse breeder, trainer, and racehorse owner, with many visits to the Winner’s Circle. A self-taught artist and musician, he has written many poems and stories, including the non-fiction The Great Deception: Symbols & Numbers Clarified. Over 13 years, he researched Josephus, the bible, Strong’s Concordance and hundreds of other works. Ben had been exposed to conventional biblical teachings, raised mostly in the Church of Christ. “What I was reading in the bible and what I was hearing from the pulpit did not coincide. When contemplating meaning, modern clergy and bible students subscribe to emotion rather than scholarly endeavor of which these ancient symbols resisted first century as well as modern interpretation.” He often quotes a favorite author, Spinoza: “All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare." “Belief is an anomaly of the mind.” —Ben Winter Compiled by Schaunon Winter Gilman and Annie Laurie Gaylor-www.ffrf.org