Winona Cotter Eye

Winona Cotter Eye, 95, passed away peacefully at her home on May 21, 2025, after an 8-year journey with dementia. A proud descendent of the Rogers family of Cullowhee, Winnie was a 1950 graduate of Western Carolina Teachers College (now WCU), a dedicated army wife, and loving mother to six children and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services for Winnie will be held at the Cullowhee United Methodist Church on Friday, June 6th at 11:00am.

Winnie was born in Cullowhee on December 24, 1929, to John Robert and Hazel Cotter. Raised in Cullowhee, she served as a teacher in Europe when she met Douglas M. Eye, and they married in Texas in 1956. While raising her own children, she taught elementary and middle school-aged children, choosing to retire with her husband in Cullowhee in 1984. Dedicated to education, Winnie was a voracious reader, a fierce advocate for the poor and marginalized, loved Cullowhee, the mountains and all animals, especially her dogs.

She will be deeply missed as a loving and generous mother to Kathy Boland, Charlie Eye and Claire Eye of Cullowhee, Becky Hadeed of Virginia, and Sara Burrows of South Carolina; mother-in-law to Karen Eye, Charles Hadeed and Matt Burrows, and grandmother to Erin Boland, Megan Boland, Matthew Eye, Sophie Eye, Kaden Hadeed, Jack Burrows and Ryan Burrows. She is preceded in death by her husband, Col. Douglas Eye, son Douglas M. Eye, brother Frank Cotter and many friends from Cullowhee.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in Winnie's honor can be made to the Ida Winona Cotter Eye School of Teaching and Learning Program Endowment at http://give.wcu.edu/Winnie