Talmadge Hinkle Remembered
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Longtime Saddlebred breeder and enthusiast, Talmadge G. Hinkle, died Oct. 7, 2006 at a Hospice home in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 82.
Talmadge was a lifelong Saddlebred breeder. Among the champions he produced was Trouble Two, a two-time World Champion of Champions five-gaited pony. Talmadge bred, broke and racked the pony at his family farm in Winston-Salem. His prized stud and longtime friend, Germ Warfare, was the pony’s sire.
Talmadge and his wife, Ann, raised their three children riding and showing on the Carolina circuit. Talmadge trained many of his family’s own horses. He also kept horses in training with his longtime friend, Cash Lovell.
While his great passion was horses, Talmadge adored children. When he walked into Cash Lovell’s barn on any Saturday morning, little girls would rush up to hug him. At the shows, little girls, and once-little girls, all stopped to visit their special friend.
Talmadge was the consummate grandfather figure. After learning of his passing, one little friend, Cagle James, gushed tears. “Talmadge told me that I would win at Louisville one day, and that he would be there to see me do it. Since I don’t have grandparents living, he told me he would come with me to Grandparent’s Day at school. I loved him so much,” Cagle told her mother, hurt by the passing of her friend.
Talmadge was a gentleman, a humanitarian and a friend to people from all walks of life. A volunteer for Meals on Wheels for many years, he also was a longtime leader in his church, Centenary United Methodist Church. He was an ardent supporter of many local charities, including the Lovell’s Little Bits Youth Club. Through the years, Hinkle helped the children raise thousand of dollars to rescue abused horses and to support handicapped horseback riders.
Always dapper, with a kind word and a smile to share, he was admired and loved by those who knew him. “Talmadge was the kind of man other men wanted to emulate,” said fellow Saddlebred enthusiast and friend, Jeoff Bodenhorst of Abingdon, Va.
Talmadge was the CEO of his family’s office supply business, Hinkle’s Inc., until his retirement in 1993. He is survived by his wife, Ann Clodfelter Hinkle; two daughters, Melissa Ann Hinkle and Deborah Hinkle Thompson (husband Randall); a son, Talmadge Gray Hinkle Jr. (wife Susan York); and grandchildren, Anna Gray Hinkle, Mary Charlotte Hinkle and Austin Ray Thompson.
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