song-and-dance team as headliners on the state fair circuit. Winters recalled a State Fair of Texas in Dallas in which the two signed autographs. Waiting for their signatures were astronauts Gus Grissom, Pete Conrad, Alan Shepard, and Wally Schirra in line with their children. As noted by the magazine publisher Airport Journal, the series Sky King inspired a number of youngsters to take up flying when they became older. Winters married Dean Stevens Vernon, a sound engineer on Sky King, and gave up acting following a 1960 appearance on Hugh O'Brian's ABC western series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Other roles In the interim, Winters had guest roles in series, including the anthology Death Valley Days, The Jack Benny Program, Richard Diamond, Private Detective; Racket Squad; The Gene Autry Show, in which she made her singing debut in the 1951 episode "Warning! Danger!", The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Brave Eagle, Four Star Playhouse, General Electric Theater, Frontier Doctor, Judge Roy Bean (in the episode "Four Ladies from Laredo"), The Roy Rogers Show, and Sheriff of Cochise. On Jim Davis' Stories of the Century anthology series, Winters played the teen-aged bandit Little Britches, opposite James Best as the outlaw Dave Ridley, with whom she is smitten. During this time, Winters appeared in movies, including Hold That Line (1952), starring the Bowery Boys, and She Couldn't Say No. Later life In 1964, Winters wrote Penny's Guide to Teen-Age Charm and Popularity (Prentice Hall), an etiquette book aimed at young girls, which inspired the alternative rock band Nada Surf's 1996 song and video "Popular." As well, Jimmy Buffett's song "Pencil Thin Mustache" contains a reminiscence about being "bucktoothed and skinny ... writin' fan letters to Sky's niece Penny." When her husband retired, the two moved to Vista, California. He died in 2001, and Winters succumbed nine years later of complications from pneumonia at her home. She was survived by her sister-in-law Phyllis DeCinces, and was interred alongside her husband at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. Awards In 2002, she was awarded the Motion Picture & Television Fund's Golden Boot Award for her work in Western films and television programs. References External links 1931 births 2010 deaths Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses American television actresses Deaths from pneumonia in California People from Vista, California 20th-century American actresses Burials in California 21st-century American women Etiquette writers