Monthly Archives: August 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday – Me, My Great-Uncle Fred, and a Love Story

Posted on by
Reply

I am sharing several posts about my great-uncle and great-aunt, Fred and Carol Webber, this week. The 80th anniversary of their wedding was Tuesday.

I don’t really have any memories of Fred and Carol Webber. We lived many states away from one another and we didn’t often visit relatives at the same time. But here I have a photograph of what was probably our first introduction to one another. I look quite happy in his arms.

This picture was taken at the home of my great-grandparents, Dorinda Strange Webber and Myron David Webber. There was a lot of picture-taking that day, so I’m going to add a couple more. The back of one of the pictures says that I was 4 months old, so these must have been taken sometime in February 1954.

 

The 2nd treasure for today is a family story. I meant to include it here, but didn’t yet have permission from the story-teller to use it. As told by Fred’s and Carol’s son Ted (“The Strange Webber Connection” Spring 2000):

One of the greatest things I heard about Fred Webber I heard after he died. Mom told me this story and I think it is nothing short of being a great love story. Excuse any poetic license I may use in telling this story, because I don’t remember each and every detail. I have told this story to my friends and they also find it to be an amazing story.

It seems that Mom received a call that Dad would be late. Maybe the call came late and Dad had to go out late. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he was gone, was out the entire night, didn’t call and let Mom know where he was. Quite assuredly, Mom was upset over the evening. Dad came back to the house the next morning, got dressed for work, went to work and said not a word about the incident.

It was years later, maybe at the going away party when they left Hamburg, that a woman came up to Mom and told her how much Dad meant to her. It seems that on the night in question, this lady had to have her son committed to a mental institution. She was totally stressed out and Fred Webber was there for the entire night helping her with what had to have been the most difficult night of her life.

To me this story tells the whole story of Fred Myron Webber. He lived to serve other people. He loved others and loved making life better for others. That he did what he did and kept his sanity is hard to believe.

It also tells of the great love Carol and Fred Webber had for each other. Dad, out all night, had enough confidence in Mom’s love to just go to work the next day. Mom had enough confidence in Dad’s love to assume  nothing. How many marriages can go through a night like that without any stress and strain?

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, Ted!

 

 

Wisdom Wednesday – “If you can read, you can do anything.’

Posted on by
10

Fred Webber was known for his vociferous reading, for his “can do” attitude, and his considerable capability in many aspects of life. These were often combined in his famous – and much repeated – line, “If you can read, you can do anything.” (The Strange-Webber Connection, Spring 2000)

Fred Webber

Fred proved his belief in the power of reading on more than one occasion. His daughter Dee shared this story in the family newsletter:

My father always said, “If you can read, you can do anything.” One evening at 198 Center Street (Hamburg, NY), Mother challenged this somewhat by saying that some things took talent, such as baking a pie. She felt that making the pie crust was something of an art.

The next thing I knew, Daddy was out in the kitchen gathering all the ingredients for an apple pie. He read the recipe, baked the pie, and later served us one of the best apple pies I have ever eaten. He didn’t even have the good sense to be modest! 

Debate Champions - Fred 2nd from left

Baking his first apple pie certainly demonstrated the truth of Fred’s philosophy, but he didn’t stop there. Fred further proved his case by building his own home (in his 60s) in Carol Valley, PA.  As reported in “The Strange-Webber Connection,” Fred wasn’t adverse to accepting help from others, however:

Bea reports that “Daddy couldn’t figure out how to get the stairway to the second floor. Ed came out for a weekend and looked at it, did some calculations, said he had it and off they went to the lumber yard.”  She also reports that she herself did some of the surveying when her dad was building the basement of the house. “I would say, ‘It’s off by a hair’ or ‘a tad’ and somehow we came to know how much was what.” Bea always asked her Dad to double check her surveying, though he said he didn’t need to. Carol Webber did not just sit and watch either – she mixed a lot of cement. 

I would whole-heartedly agree with Fred’s assertion, except for the fact I can’t make a decent pie crust even though I am able to read.

(I first introduced Fred and Carol Webber here.)

 

And when love in life has ended…..

Posted on by
4

May it go on in heaven above. – Fred Webber

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the marriage of Fred Myron Webber and Carol Richards on August 14, 1932. Fred was my Grandmother Abbie’s brother. I put out a request for a wedding picture and received this from their daughter. Thank you!

Carol Richards and Fred M. Webber 14 Aug 1932

Fred Webber was highlighted in the Spring 2000 edition of “The Strange-Webber Connection” family newsletter. Family members have given me permission to use stories and memories shared within its pages, so I’ll share a couple that reflect on their marriage.

This excerpt explains the title above:

“Carol Webber shared with us the following poem. She explained that, while they were both students at the University of Iowa, she and Fred  went on a picnic with friends. They fetched a bucket of water for the group. Later, Fred presented Carol with the following poem, above which he had mounted a picture of the two of them carrying the pail of water for the picnic.”

(Update 5/5/2019 – I recently received the original hand-written poem from one of Fred’s and Carol’s children and so I happily replace the typed poem from the newsletter with Fred’s hand-written verse.)

 

Just four months prior to their wedding, Fred was “publicly ordained to the work of The Gospel Ministry on the fourteenth day of April, 1932, by a Council of Baptist churches, composed of 25 messengers from 14 churches, convened at the call of the Immanuel Baptist Church at Rochester, NY.”

Fred’s first three pastorates were in Baptist Churches. In 1941, he was received into the Presbytery of Buffalo-Niagra and for the remainder of his career in ministry, he served in Presbyterian churches and other assignments within the Presbyterian Church.

Fred and Carol had four children and were married for 56 years – until Fred’s death August 30, 1988.

Also included in the newsletter are memories that Carol Richardson Webber shared about her marriage to Fred.

“After 56 years of marriage, there are many ways in which I remember Fred. I’ll try to share a few with you.
I remember Fred as a loving husband and father. He could always find time to help with or check the children’s homework, play a game of catch or something. Always ready to drive them and their friends to ball games, etc.
I remember him sitting in his easy chair surrounded by books and papers and doing crossword puzzles in ink.
I remember his devotion to work. He was a student and spent many hours preparing for a service.
I remember him as being able to fix any toy or household item – but always having to go buy a tool before he could do it.
I remember his love of camping and taking pictures. As the children would say, he was “stopping to take a picture on every corner” as we were traveling.
I remember his cluttered desk and how he knew where everything was. I couldn’t dust his desk.
I remember his love of music and how he made that a very special part of the church service.
I remember his ability to come up with a joke or a story that he hadn’t thought of in years. He had a terrific memory.
I close as I started – remembering him as a loving and devoted husband and father for 56 years.”

Carol and Fred Webber 1968

After reading the above, It seems fitting that the only picture of Fred and Carol that I found among my grandmother’s photos was this one of Fred with his camera.

The words of the poem above reflect the life and work that both Fred, as a pastor, and Carol, as the wife of a pastor, envisioned for themselves (or at least Fred envisioned) throughout their life together. Carol has since passed away.

 

And when love in life has ended,
May it go on in heaven above.