Hugh Lawson Winkler was a close childhood friend of McCarthy’s and lived near the McCarthy home on Martin Mill Pike. Hugh was born on May 3, 1931, and was the son of Hugh Garland and Cora P. Winkler. He was a member of the Young High School class of 1950. In his 2001 feature article on McCarthy in Metro Pulse, Mike Gibson claimed that the character John Wesley in The Orchard Keeper was modeled after Winkler. Hugh died in Atlanta, GA, on March 31, 1969, at age 37. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Wesley G. Morgan, Ph.D.