Jacksonville – Erin Kaye Sorrell Winner, 80, passed away on Friday, October 30, 2026, surrounded by her family at Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, NC.

Details of services celebrating Erin’s life will be announced later.

Erin was born in Raleigh, NC, and graduated from Wheaton High School in 1964. Erin attended Montgomery College and worked for Leatherneck Magazine and the 2nd Marine Division Association. Erin was also active in Key Wives and later the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

Erin would joke that marrying a Marine would let her see the world. Instead, he traveled while she made each duty station—New River, Quantico, and Kaneohe Bay—a new home for the family. They returned to Jacksonville and settled there in 1987.

Erin’s granddaughter, Gracie, captured her life beautifully:

You taught me what it means to love someone unconditionally. You took such pride in being our Nana, and I think you responded to that name faster than you answered to your own.

For the past 10+ years, you battled through countless health challenges with incredible resilience. You kept fighting for the chance to spend more time with the family you built. You valued every moment, even the ordinary ones. Something as simple as a phone call to catch up after we hadn’t spoken in a while meant so much to you, and you always made sure I knew that.

You encouraged me to make the right decisions and were patient with me when I made the wrong ones. Nana and Papa’s house was a place I never had to knock. I always knew I was welcome, and I never had to question whether I was loved.

Nana loved to sew. She loved creating things with her own hands, but more than that, she loved using that gift to comfort others. When someone lost a loved one, Nana would ask for their clothing so she could turn it into a quilt. She gave grieving hearts a way to wrap themselves in the clothes of someone they could no longer hold. Even in the midst of someone else’s heartbreak, Nana found a way to give them a little piece of the person they were missing. That’s who she was. Always loving people, comforting them, and finding ways to help them feel close to someone they had lost.

I am so grateful to have had you for as long as I did. I’m grateful that you got to know Brayden and Iris, and that they got to experience the love of their great-Nana.

And more than anything, I’m grateful that yesterday I got to hold your hand. I got to tell you who was there with you. Your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, and your husband. I got to remind you how deeply you were loved. I even told you that the love Papa has for you, and the marriage you two shared, set the bar so incredibly high for the rest of us that Papa actually apologized.

Thank you for always being there. I will cherish your memory in every hummingbird I see, every quilt you made, every trip to the beach, and every little resemblance of you I recognize in Brayden and Iris.

Nana, I hope you knew. I hope you felt it. You were so, so loved. And you will be missed more than words can say.

I love you, Nana.

Erin was preceded in death by her parents, Fred Maurice Sorrell and Grace Wilson Sorrell; and sisters, Peggy Spence, Terry Sorrell, and Pam Adams. Erin is survived by a devoted husband of 59 years, Ronald Winner of Jacksonville, NC; daughters, Lynn Dietrich (John) of Apex, NC, Connie Bradway (Jamie) of Apex, NC, and Jennifer Grossman of Jacksonville, NC; grandchildren, Jack, Maggie, Sophie, Gracie, and Charlie; great-grandchildren, Brayden and Iris; and many loving nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in Erin’s name to Project Linus https://www.projectlinus.org/ or Tunnel to Towers Foundation https://t2t.org/ 

Family and friends are welcome to leave electronic condolences at www.jonesfh.org