Fred Webber – General Presbyter of the Baltimore Area 1960-1971

Fred Webber InstalledOn Wednesday, September 28, 1960, the Rev. Fred M. Webber was installed as General Presbyter of the Presbytery of Baltimore. He remained in this position until his “retirement” in 1971. The installation took place at Faith Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

I’ve been digging around to learn more about my great uncle Fred and his involvement in the civil rights and ecumenical movements during the 1960s. To provide some background I’m considering these questions:

What did this move and new job mean for Fred Webber and his family?
What does a General Presbyter do?
What prepared him for this position?

Although I can’t really know what this new job and move meant to the Fred Webber family, I can imagine that Fred viewed it as a great opportunity. His wife, Carol, had been through several moves and job changes by this time – all part of the life of a minister. Three of Fred’s and Carol’s children were grown and on their own, so they were unaffected by the move from Hamburg, New York, to Baltimore, Maryland. However their youngest daughter, a Junior in high school, was “very angry (very, very, very angry)” with her father for moving before she finished high school and she did not make the move with her parents. Instead, Bea lived with the school librarian and her husband (members of Hamburg Presbyterian Church where Fred had been the minister), until the end of 11th grade. Happily, Bea reports that “the minister and his wife at the Catonsville Presbyterian Church (in Maryland), where Mother joined, had a daughter my age and she very graciously welcomed me that summer before our senior year. She met me on the way to school the first day and walked with me. After that, I found my own way and had a fabulous year, so I forgave my father.”

What does a General Presbyter do?

In my search for a job description, I found this one by The Rev. Dr. Kevin Yoho, General Presbyter of the Newark Presbytery: “As General Presbyter, I support and direct the work of the staff, provide guidance to the Mission Council, committees, and teams of the presbytery, represent and link the presbytery to educational, civic, and private institutions. I also serve as a pastor to the pastors and am available to offer confidential support, coach, and pray with our pastoral leaders. 

Many conversations emerge with opportunities for partnering with congregations seeking and changing pastoral leadership; supporting congregational leaders feeling the pain of transitions, stress, and conflict that comes from growth and transformation; encouraging congregations in their discernment and pursuit of their missional identity; offering leadership in the Synod and national Presbyterian Church, and fostering denominational, ecumenical, and interfaith relationships….

Building trust, celebrating growth, fostering discernment through appreciative inquiry, inviting collaboration, clarifying ministry, assessing wellness and effectiveness, offering guidance, leading presbytery staff; these are the kinds of activities that I hope add value to the entire presbytery as it helps every pastor and session fulfill their unique mission in the world.”

That last paragraph fits my imaginings of how Fred envisioned his role as General Presbyter.

What prepared Fred for his new job as General Presbyter and his involvement in the civil rights and ecumenical movements?

A rather stern looking family. Fred Webber 2nd from left

Fred Webber 2nd from left

Fred M. Webber was born to Dorinda Strange and M. D. Webber in 1906, the fifth of nine children. He was a younger brother of my grandmother Abbie. His father, M. D. Webber, served as a pastor in several small churches, although he eventually gave up the ministry in order to support his large family. Nevertheless, the practice of their Christian faith was a given in Fred’s family of origin.

Debate Champions

Debate Champions – Fred 2nd from left

Fred was an avid reader and enjoyed debate. He was named “Best Debater in the State of Iowa in 1926.” He graduated from The State University of Iowa in 1930 and later earned a Master of Divinity from Colgate-Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, New York. Fred began his ministry as a Baptist pastor in 1932, but was received into the Presbytery of Buffalo-Niagra in 1941 and served several churches in New York.

In a resume written around 1974, Fred summarized a few of his professional duties and accomplishments prior to his position as General Presbyter. It’s a little difficult to read, so I’ve typed in the highlights below.

Webber, Fred Myron 1974 Resume pt. 1

Webber, Fred Myron 1974 Resume pt. 2

* In Bath I followed a Pastor who had left under quite unhappy circumstances, so my first responsibility was a healing ministry, which I feel was rather well accomplished.
* (Weedsport) My major contribution to the life of this congregation was broadening its view of the total mission of the church; from virtually no support of mission outside the congregation, we moved to fairly significant support
* (Youngstown) I found here the same lack of support outside the parish, and brought that support up to a respectable figure. Growth in membership was about 20%, and in attendance about 40%
* (Hamburg) Once again I was confronted with a lack of concern beyond the parish … By the time I left, the church was giving $1.00 to general mission for every $2.00 for local mission. Membership grew from about 150 to over 1,000; a new church was erected.
* Fred was commissioner to the General Assembly in 1947, 1958 and again in 1965.

It does appear that these were valuable experiences that Fred could apply to his job as General Presbyter. In the resume above, he says the following about his work in the presbytery: Presbytery was severely divided when I came, and we made significant strides toward uniting it. 

In addition to the experiences listed above, Fred was known as having a “can do” attitude as exemplified by his favorite saying, “If you can read, you can do anything.”

Among the files sent to me by Fred’s daughter, Bea, is a humorous letter written in 1968 addressing the Presbytery of Baltimore at the 566th Stated Meeting. The letter was submitted by the congregation at Catonsville and speaks of Fred as an impossible man in an impossible job in an impossible place.

November 16, 1968

November 16, 1968

An additional question I have is what influenced Fred’s involvement in the civil rights movement. I haven’t read any of Fred’s sermons, so I don’t know if, when, or how often he preached on the issue of civil rights, but it is obvious from his resume that Fred always pushed his congregations to look (and give) beyond the doors of their church. I asked family members to offer their thoughts regarding what influenced Fred’s commitment to civil rights:

Anyone care to speculate what his early life and family experience played based on what you heard from Fred or what you heard about or experienced yourself in the home of Dorinda and M. D. Webber? Or maybe it was time spent in seminary, as a pastor?

I received the following responses:

* I think his civil rights position came from his Christian principles. I think civil rights became a big issue after he had a congregation.
* Bea found a 1920s prayers for social justice book in all the things she went through last year, so I think his convictions surely came from his full life experiences.
* One of our grandmother’s (Dorinda Strange Webber) brothers was killed by an Indian before she was born. She talked about that fact fairly often, but I never heard one negative word about that particular Indian or about Indians in general. I think that the Webber family was not into racial, ethnic bigotry at all. God made and loved each human being, no matter color, etc. I think that would have had an impact on anyone who lived with them – especially those who grew up with them.

To add a little more context, I did just a smidgen of research on the Rev. Dr. Kenneth G. Neigh, who gave the sermon at Fred Webber’s installation. Mr. Neigh was the general secretary of the Board of National Missions, a position he held from 1959-1972.

In 1996, the New York Times published an obituary for Kenneth Neigh calling him “a national Presbyterian church official who put the church in the forefront of the civil rights movement and broadened its commitment to social causes in the 1960s.” It continues – “For a man who was less than five and a half feet tall and had an uncommonly soft voice, Mr. Neigh wielded a lot of power from his office on Riverside Drive, then the headquarters of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States….. Although he had official power only within his own church, Mr. Neigh’s pioneering approach was credited with influencing similar efforts in other churches, especially after his friend and admirer, Eugene Carson Blake, the Presbyterian Church’s top ecclesiastical official, carried Mr. Neigh’s vision with him when he became head of the National Council of Churches and later of the World Council of Churches.”

So – there we have some background to place Fred Webber in Baltimore in the 1960s. Coming soon – a look at some of Fred Webber’s actions in support of civil rights and ecumenism – and perhaps a look at some of his other contemporaries, including Eugene Carson Blake.

If you would like to read more about Fred M. Webber, click the Fred Myron Webber tag/link at the bottom of this post.

Webber, Fred Myron 1930 College DiplomaWebber, Fred Myron Master of DivinityWebber, Fred Myron 1932 Baptist

 

It’s the Little Crumbs that Pique my Interest

In a recent post, I shared my interest in the Civil Rights Summit held at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, April 8-10, 2014. Curious to see if I could uncover any family stories related to the Civil Rights movement, I sent out a mass email. I received only one response – from Dee Webber McLean stating that her father, Fred M. Webber, participated in the 1963 March on Washington. (Fred M. Webber was my Grandmother Abbie’s brother.) I sent a quick reply with a list of questions, but Dee didn’t have any additional information and suggested I contact her sister Bea.

I received this reply from cousin Bea in response to my queries:

I can’t tell you very much. I was 20 and ignored half of what was said at the dinner table. See below in red.

How did he make the decision to attend? No idea. He was involved in civil rights in Baltimore (and I am sure well before Baltimore), so I am sure it was a no brainer for him.

> Did he speak about civil rights from the pulpit? As Dee told you, he did not have a church at the time, though he did substitute at churches all over the Presbytery, preaching most Sundays. I would say he probably did. (At the time he was living in Baltimore serving as the General Presbyter, an executive, so he didn’t have a church.)

> I don’t know your family history well enough – was the family in New York at the time? At what church was he pastor? See above.

> How did he travel to D.C.? Did he go with a group? I would suspect it was with a group and probably by bus.

> What did he say about the experience? Sorry, I have no memories.

> Are there any photos or other memorabilia from the march? Not sure, but will keep an eye out when and if I am in family stuff. See Xmas letter attached; that’s actually how I know he was there.

> Was there any push back from the community because of his participation? Again, as he was not the pastor of a church, he did not have a local community, but rather the entire Presbytery of Baltimore and I am sure there were many who disapproved.

I do know he was very involved in the ecumenical movement, and participated in the council of churches or whatever its name was. I am sure this is something he did throughout his entire ministry. I do recall there were some meetings at our house in Catonsville attended by some Black clergy and a Catholic priest, Father Joe Connolly, I think was his name. In the Fred M. Webber historical document attached, keep scrolling through it and you will see some stuff from when he went to Rome representing the United Presbyterian Church of the USA and the Protestant Churches of America at the elevation of Archbishop Sheehan to Cardinal. This was, I know, one of the highlights of Daddy’s life and service in  ministry. I’ve attached some other stuff that I happen to have in my computer. I also have a booklet of memories about Daddy that the family presented to Mother in 1995. If you’d like it, let me know.

Of course, I said I would like to receive the booklet of memories!

And here is that one sentence from Carol and Fred Webber’s 1963 Christmas letter that tells family and friends that Fred participated in the March on Washington:

weberchristmasletter

Some tasty crumbs to follow!

If you would like to read more about Fred M. Webber, click the Fred Myron Webber tag/link at the bottom of this post.

*****
I’ve mentioned before that I am still suffering the effects of “chemo brain” – affecting my abilities to plan and organize and follow through. I’ve followed the trail of some of the crumbs above and I am excited to share them. Normally, I would be coming up with a plan on how to weave what I found into some kind of narrative. It just isn’t happening. So – although I probably won’t be entirely pleased with the results, I’m just going to dive in and do my best with what I have. Maybe something simple… like chronological order? If I keep challenging this brain, maybe it will overcome the effects of those toxic drugs more quickly. Bye-bye, perfectionism!

BTW, a friend sent me an interesting article about chemo brain last week. I knew some of the information, but was not aware of the link between chemo brain and a family history of Alzheimer’s (I’ve got that) nor the association with also having peripheral neuropathy (yup – I’ve got that too. Fortunately not as bad as some people get from chemotherapy.).

The Civil Rights Summit and a Family Story?

On April 8-10, 2014, the LBJ Presidential Library on the University of Texas campus hosted a Civil Rights Summit to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unable to attend, but living right here, I watched as much of the live stream coverage as I could. President Obama, and three of our four living former presidents (all but George H. W. Bush) were speakers at the summit.

My very favorite panel/speaker was the interview with former President Jimmy Carter. The emotional story behind the Camp David accord alone is worth watching the nearly hour-long interview. I have such respect for President Carter’s continuing work after his “retirement.” He is sharp as a tack and working relentlessly for women world wide as well as his many other projects. (A little music by Graham Nash precedes the interview.)

I was also intrigued by the panel “Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement” – with Julian Bond, Andrew Young, and Representative John Lewis. Missing from the panel, however, were any female heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Well – they did bring it up and gave a nice pat response about how great so many women were …. but, you know, it seems that some of the story is missing. I did enjoy the discussion and insights and stories told and would encourage you to watch their panel. I think you can find pretty much everything from the summit on youtube.

Our local PBS affiliate is airing some programs they put together to coincide with the summit and the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. I watched one the evening of April 24th and was pleasantly surprised that the local production did not give short shrift to the women in Austin who played significant roles in the Civil Rights movement here. I have two new heroines: Bertha Means and Ada Anderson. Coincidentally, while I was watching their stories on PBS, Bertha Means, now age 94, was being honored by iACT (Interfaith Action of Central Texas) as a community leader who helped shape Austin. You can watch “Austin Revealed: Civil Rights Stories” here. I hope you will!

After watching three days of speakers and panelists talking about the civil rights movement, I began to wonder what stories I might find in my own family. I sent out an email request to the various branches of my family tree hoping I would get something in return. I got one response – from Dolores Webber McLean:

“My father, Fred M. Webber, marched in the 1963 March on Washington.”

What??!!!

I have written about Fred M. Webber before – here, here, and here. He was my Grandmother Abbie’s brother and a minister – first as a Baptist and later as a Presbyterian. I never really knew my great uncle Fred, but I know we met at least once.

Webber.Fred and Kathy

I followed up with a series of questions to cousin Dee. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell me much more as she wasn’t living at home at the time. Dee suggested I ask her younger sister.

Let’s just say this got me started digging for more. And I’m not finished. Stay tuned for the rest of the story – hopefully coming soon.

If you would like to read more about Fred M. Webber, click the Fred Myron Webber tag/link at the bottom of this post.