Friday, Aug. 15, 2008

HAPPY TRAILS

Former Town Mayor Tom Webb, Wife Plan New Adventure

By Adrian McCandless

Staff Writer

Former Mayor Thomas Webb is bidding adieu to Flower Mound after 39 years of residency. While fellow residents are familiar with the public side of Webb, many in the community may not know it’s just the tip of the iceberg to his story.

Serving in the military for 42 years, Webb became the first National Guard member from Oklahoma to begin his career in 1957 as an Airman, and retire as a Brigadier General.

Webb also had a nearly 30-year career with American Airlines, retiring in 1995 as a senior captain.

Between his career with the military and American Airlines, Webb has logged 37-thousand hours of flying more than 200 mph under his belt – which totals nearly 300 trips around the world over more than a week of continuous flight.

Webb received numerous awards and recognitions throughout his military career.

"During that period, I got a Presidential Citation – I’ve been awarded awards by three governors in the state of Oklahoma for my service and I had volunteered for 18 special missions flying airplanes into Vietnam," he said.

Webb said he had the privilege to bring back groups from Dessert Storm while he was the wing commander of the 137th Tactical Airlift wing of Oklahoma City, the 165th Tactical Airlift Group of Savannah, Ga., and the 130th Airlift Group in Charleston, W.Va.

"It was so unique because it was the middle of the night. The governor was there – the band from my Norman High School was there – and about 300 people welcomed those kids coming back," Webb said.

Webb said it made him "feel good to bring them [Desert Storm troops] back with a crowd treating them as military heroes, because many who came back from Vietnam felt disgraced."

Looking back, Webb said one of his high points in his life was receiving a full scholarship to play football at Kansas University in 1954. He said he chose Kansas University because it allowed him to play basketball and baseball as well. Webb moved back to Oklahoma in 1955 ... for a girl. Unfortunately, he said she broke his heart after becoming engaged to another man six weeks later.

Webb’s heart wasn’t broken for long. "I’d come home from my first leave, and Jo Ann Patterson didn’t have a date for a big New Year’s Eve party," Webb said. "So, one of her friends and a couple of fellows I played football with got us a blind date. We got married Sept. 2, 1961, and to this day she is the love and soul of my heart."

"I got called back to active duty in 1961 – my last semester of college – and I stayed on active duty through 1966," he said. "Then I had an opportunity to make a career decision to either stay in the Air Force, or go work for American Airlines."

Webb’s decision to join the airline moved the family, which now included three sons, to Connecticut. Three years later, they moved to Texas and Love Field, which was then home to American Airlines.

Webb moved his family to Flower Mound in 1969 after visiting relatives"When we built the house, the water wasn’t running very good," Webb said.

He discovered that he shared a one-inch water line with three other neighbors and decided to discuss it at theTown Council meeting.

"At that meeting as I was leaving, a fellow by the name of Andre Gerault and another fellow named Bob Rheudasil came up and convinced me I should be on the Board of Adjustments Webb said.

He served on the Board for a few years before he was urged to run for the Town Council.

"I said 'I don’t know anything about politics’ and they told me 'no one else does either,’" he said.

He ran for the Town Council in 1972 and became mayor pro tem a year later.

"During that period, we put a small tax on the community because we wanted a Police Department, we wanted to start a Volunteer Fire Department and we wanted a city secretary," Webb said.

Before the 1973 election, the mayor and another council member resigned. Webb said he would have had to turn in a letter of resignation as mayor pro tem in order to run for mayor. During a Town Council meeting, three members – wanting to abolish taxes- quickly appointed a new mayor. Webb said the group got rid of the taxes, police officers and the town secretary.

The next year Webb was elected mayor and was able to reintroduce the taxes.

"After I got elected and before I got tax money in, I was able to go to Washington [D.C.] to HUD [Housing and Urban Development] to get some grants to keep our city manager and our police department running – with two policemen, two cars and a chief of police."

The chief of police and a few dedicated citizens helped Webb start a Volunteer Fire Department.

As mayor, Webb was in charge of driving the fire truck, but he only got to drive the truck twice.

"I was backing up so they could fight the fire… I drove it into the septic tanks, he said. "There the mayor was – stuck in septic. I never lived it down."

After a few years, Webb said he had too much on his plate.

"I was also in the National Guard in Oklahoma City, flying with American Airlines and trying to keep up with politics," Webb said. "I had three great sons and a lovely daughter that I wanted to spend more time with. And, it was time for Jo Ann to have a true husband – not a part-timer."

Webb retired as an elected official in 1976, but remained active in the community serving on the Parks Board, as co-chair for the first Town Charter Committee, and as president of the Summit Club in the 1980s.

Webb said moving was a tough decision to make. However, he added that family comes first, and decided to move back to Oklahoma to be closer to his brother who lost his wife last year.

"All of the years I was overseas – my wife was a little 25-year-old gal with three little boys and if it hadn’t been for the support and help from my brother, Minor, and his sweet wife, Oleta, I don’t know what she would have done," he said.

As a one chapter closes and a new one begins, Webb said he is looking forward to his move to Oklahoma – but Flower Mound will always have a special place in his heart.