About

Austin T. Winstead was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. Austin is

the second youngest grandson of H.J. and Tommie Winstead,

founders of Winsteads’ Man’s Shop. When Austin was in

Elementary school, his family moved to Kerrville, Texas. Austin

played soccer and football and graduated from Tivy High School.

After school and on the weekends at 16 years old Austin started

working at Kerrville Funeral Home. By the time he graduated he

was a licensed crematory operator and helped in every aspect of

the funeral home. After graduation, Austin moved to Houston and

started mortuary school and worked for Rosewood Funeral

Homes. He learned so much working along with experts in the

field and gained friends he will have forever. Austin decided to

move to West Texas and try his hand in the oil and gas industry,

where he was taught team work, responsibility, leadership and

loyalty by some awesome friends and family. After missing his

family, he decided to move back to Kerrville and Kerrville Funeral

Home. Under the leadership of his mentor, Gene Allen, Austin

finished his education in Mortuary Science and became a young

manager and a respected funeral director. When the opportunity

became available to Austin, his sister, Ashlee and their father,

John, to purchase Limbaugh Funeral Home, they jumped in feet

first. As a family tradition, they knew they could fulfill a need in the

community of Portland. Austin is married to Cassy Winstead.

Cassy believes in Austin’s dream and has joined him along with

son, Rhett, in the move to Portland, where she has taken a job as

a teacher at WC Andrews Elementary.

John’s roots run deep in Corpus Christi where he has been part of

several successful family owned and operated businesses. All of

those businesses have cared for Corpus Christi residents

spanning back to 1966. John got involved in the funeral industry

in 1994 by providing funeral homes limousines throughout South

Texas and the Valley. After selling the limousine business, John

moved to Kerrville, Texas and continued broadening his

knowledge in the funeral business to include managing the

preneed department and crematory for Kerrville Funeral Home. In

wanting to know all aspects of the funeral industry, he spent some

time on the road representing Matthews Casket Company calling

on Texas funeral homes providing funeral products. After

determining that he enjoyed helping families in their time of need,

he went back to school and obtained his Funeral Director’s

license and returned to Kerrville as a funeral director and

Operations Manager of both Kerrville and Kimble Funeral Homes.

Family always being top priority to John, family called upon his

help, so he moved back to Corpus Christi. He was asked to help

one of his 5 siblings to position a company to take public or sell.

After a few years, he was instrumental in selling his brother’s

company to General Electric. Being that he was the backbone of

the company he was asked to stay on and run the business for

GE. But the day came to choose Odessa, Texas or Corpus

Christi, Texas and the choice was easy for John. This was a true

opportunity for John to return to his real passion and that was

caring for families. John now owns Winsteads’ Funeral Home with

his son and daughter. He and his wife Kimberley have been

married since 1989. He is also blessed to have three grandsons.

Ashlee N. Winstead-Sherman was born in Corpus Christi, TX.

Ashlee is a granddaughter of H.J. & Tommie Winstead, founders

of Winsteads’ Man’s Shop.  When Ashlee was in middle school,

her family moved to Kerrville, TX.  Through high school, Ashlee

was a sports trainer for the football and soccer teams at Tivy High School.  After graduating from Tivy, Ashlee attended Angelo State

University to work on her degree in Business Administration.

While attending Angelo State, Ashlee worked at Johnson’s

Funeral Home in San Angelo. Already having knowledge of the

funeral industry through her family, this gave Ashlee the

opportunity to expand her knowledge by providing families with

memories through memorial tributes.  She also aided Johnson’s

by handling various administrative tasks.  Ashlee transferred to

Texas A&M Corpus Christi to finish her degree. While attending

and after graduating from TAMUCC, Ashlee was an

Administrative Manager for an oil and gas service company and

continued this work through the company being sold to General

Electric.  During her time with GE, Ashlee provided her skills in

managing multi-million dollars’ worth of inventory, and the payroll

and human resource responsibilities of the department’s

employees. Ashlee also worked for the Corpus Christi Regional

Transportation Authority. She assisted in providing affordable

transportation to the Coastal Bend Community. She was the

Administrator for Customer Service and Capital Projects.

Currently Ashlee is busy raising her young family and helping at

Winsteads’ Funeral Home wherever needed. Her and her loving

husband, Michael Sherman, have two sons Knox Wade and Kace

Winstead.