Augustus (Gus) Winchester

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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Gus Winchester was a 36-year-old building contractor. He had served as Chairman of the Leon County Florida Licensing Board and on numerous civic committees and charitable organizations. He was truly a young community leader on the rise. He had a tremendous love of flying, and had nearly 2,000 hours experience, a Commercial License, but no instrument qualifications. Like so many, he flew into weather he was not prepared to deal with and a terrible accident resulted. This community mourns his passing. His brother, Dan, a Leon County Commissioner and community leader, speaks of Gus in the newspaper account of the accident, summarized below. Gus made numerous contributions to aviation in this community, and it is fitting, then, that he be remembered on the Wall of Honor.
Date of Death: March 16, 2003

Extracted from the Tallahassee Democrat, March 2003

Stormy weather Monday night apparently caused the airplane crash that claimed the lives of two Tallahassee residents, one of whom was the brother of Leon County Commissioner Dan Winchester.

Augustus "Gus" Winchester, 36, and his longtime girlfriend, Pamela Reiber, 43, were killed when the Piper Aero Turbo plane Winchester piloted plunged into the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Key.

Gus Winchester wan the owner of Cherry Hill Commercial Design and Construction Company. Reiber was a medical assistant with Tallahassee Podiatry Associates. The couple had dated for six years. The couple was returning from a funeral in Fort Lauderdale after a stop in Key West.

"My little brother had a heart as big as Texas and a smile to go with it," said a tearful Dan Winchester, 38, on Wednesday. "We were as dose as twins. This is just awful."

Dan Winchester, who was reelected last November to his second term as Leon County Commissioner, said his brother took up flying about 10 years ago. He said his brother was a "great pilot," who bought the plane to attend to his various projects.

Dan Winchester said his brother had become a highly successful commercial contractor, as he followed in the footsteps of their father, Coy Winchester, a long-time local contractor.

Gus Winchester was a 1985 graduate of Godby, who attended Tallahassee Community College before leaving to become one of the state's youngest licensed contractors. After redesigning a Tallahassee franchise of Barnhill's Restaurant, he was hired to redesign numerous Barnhill's restaurants around the Southeast. Gus Winchester had recently moved into hotel building, with projects in Texas and Florida.

He was a member and former chairman of the Leon County Contractors Licensing Board.
"My brother was a true entrepreneur," said older sister Elizabeth Winchester, 39, an Orlando schoolteacher. "He was always excited about new projects and new challenges. He was fearless."