Winona Shingleton Presley was born in 1925 in McLoud, Oklahoma, and graduated from White Rock High School in 1943. She briefly attended Oklahoma A&M College before returning to her former high school as an emergency teacher. In 1946, Mrs. Presley went on to take a "temporary job" at Long Bell Lumber Co in Britton, Oklahoma - an employment that would last 14 years.
Mrs. Presley was also a lifelong member of Britton Methodist Church, where she would eventually meet and marry her husband, Edwin L. Presley. She returned to college in 1963 and earned a degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1966.
After her death in 1998, Winona gifted a part of her estate to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to further causes in the community. Her gift continues to support the Fund for Oklahoma City.