John Chilton Webb, II

John was an advocate for the disadvantaged, Veterans, and anyone who needed help. In his private life, he loved manual labor, was an effortless handyman, a great story teller, and a Master Craftsman, constantly building or inventing things to help the people he loved. He had the best sense of humor, and a sort of unconditional love for every person he met. You couldn’t leave him anywhere without coming back to find he’d made a new friend. He loved everyone.

John was born on May 27, 1940 in Gorman, Texas to John Chilton Webb and Betty Mae (Jackson) Webb. He moved to Crane where his father was employed by the Gulf Oil Company. He graduated from the University of North Texas (UNT) in 1962, with a degree in Psychology. He ran track his Freshman year at UNT, was a high jumper and could clear 6 feet. He was an avid explorer and often enjoyed swimming in an underground Phantom Cave Spring in West Texas. He joined the US Navy from 1962 to 1964 and served as a deck hand.

In 1968 he earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, where he was president of the student body. He then went to work as the supervisor of the Cameron County Child Welfare office.

He met and married the love of his life, Annie Laurie Douglass, in 1968. Together, they built and lived on houseboat, occasionally taking it on adventures up and down the coast. In 1971 they Webb family moved to Houston, where John was employed by the Veterans Administration as a social worker. John organized and saw chartered the Greater Houston Group of Blinded Veterans Association and in 1975 was recognized by the Veterans Administration as the person who contributed the most toward blind Veterans in the United States.

Johnny Chilton Webb III was born June 11, 1972 and Christy Michelle Webb was born May 10, 1975 in Houston.

In 1975, Laurie was diagnosed with rapidly degenerating MS, and John needed to find a job where it was easier for him to get home quickly to take care of her if needed. John was offered jobs all over the US, but one stood out, in Big Spring, Texas. Laurie’s father had built one of the largest hotels in Texas in Big Spring, decades earlier, and a number of streets in Big Spring are named after members of her family. Laurie herself had spent part of her childhood there, and Laurie Street itself was named after her. With her family ties to the area, John decided that would be the best destination. The family moved to Big Spring in 1976 where John would serve as the Chief Social Worker for the Big Spring VA hospital for 32 years, and occasionally worked at the State Hospital as needed.

John helped and assisted thousands of Veterans and their families and was often referred to as a hero and life saver. He received hundreds of recognitions and awards, for example received a Special Commendation by the VA Hospital in 1987 for helping a veteran who was threatening to take his own life, by driving to his apartment and just talking to him for a few hours while the police waited outside. John often received art from Veterans, and his office at the VA was adorned with paintings and sculptures from all over the US. At home, John and Laurie often worked as a team, and ran Big Spring’s Red Cross and Salvation Army phone hotlines during weather emergencies.

During his time in Big Spring, John invented and built an astounding number of things he didn’t tell people about. It was often his way, to see things as they were, imagine a way to make them better, and make that. Laurie was in a wheelchair, but loved to garden. So he built a flowerbed with a wheelchair access. She loved it, so he built more of it, extending the flowerbed so it wrapped around the entire back yard. Then he built concrete ramps and a walkway that extended all around that, so Laurie could get to any part of it on her own. But that needed water. So he had a water well put in, and he built a completely automated irrigation and watering system, and then built ornate wooden structures around all of that. Then he extended that to a sprinkler system for the front and back yards. Later on he built Laurie a greenhouse. Using old wood and the wheel from their houseboat, he built a two level fort for his kids that wrapped around part of the outside of the house. Then he built a sandbox underneath it, and added a flag pole and fireman’s pole for easy access in and out. As the kids outgrew the fort, he tore it down and used the remaining good wood to build a loft inside the house, in the living room, creating a second half-room accessible only by a handcrafted ladder.

His electrical knowledge was equally astounding. He once took an old crank phone case and refit it with a modern phone on the inside, but wired it up so it would work like the older models did.

He pushed his kids to always be curious, and helped them build any science fair projects they wanted to know more about, including a Hovercraft, a flying remote camera system, and a massive Van De Graaff generator. He also built furniture, including a massive TV console that neatly hid video games and VHS tapes in an ornate cedar box, many rotating book shelves, and a number of mechanical devices to help Laurie be more independent.

One year he decided the house needed a larger Christmas display, so he constructed a massive 30’ internally illuminated, wooden Merry Christmas sign that would attach to part of the roof. In the late 80’s he decided the roof needed to be replaced, so he bought all the material and with the help of his children and their friends, completely rebuilt the roof of the house over a few summer months. He also loved to make knives out of rail road spikes and collected hundreds of pocket knives.

Some of his favorite times were doing magic tricks with his children and watch his children at science fairs and swim meets; work in the yard and garden; do projects with his grandchildren; go to reunions and spend time with his friends. He had one general piece of advice about life: be dependable. Always do what you say you are going to do. He was always on time, and went out of his way to make sure everyone he cared about was taken care of. He never complained about the work ahead of him, and even in the most stressful times would calmly tell you, “oh this part is easy. You just have to do the work.”

Every summer for almost a decade, John and Laurie would host an Ice Cream Social for everyone on their street, and they’d spend a day or two making homemade ice cream for it. Dozens of families would show up and just hang around eating ice cream in the back yard. The Webb’s front door was always unlocked, and often open. John installed a large basketball hoop in the driveway and let anyone play basketball there, at any time, day or night. It was not uncommon for neighborhood kids to run in and out of the house like they lived there. At one point, John bought a giant church bell, and built a concrete structure to hold it which connected to a barbeque smoker in the back yard. When it was time to eat, he could ring the bell, and all of the kids playing in the park behind the house would know it was time to go home.

A good sense of humor was vital to John. Laurie and John had a bookshelf in the living room with various books that were parodies of famous literature. They had no desire to put on airs, despite that both John and Laurie were members of Mensa.

His favorite quote was, In life there is no end, no final destination, it is the journey that counts.

Laurie died from complications from MS, in 1998. He later married his second wife, Bonnie Gurley. He retired from the VA Hospital and he and Bonnie moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for 2 ½ years, where they lived in a penthouse atop a 5 story condominium overlooking the ocean. While in Mexico, he and Bonnie started their own souvenir business. In Mexico, John studied Sculpting for two years. Prior to moving to Mexico, he worked as a self-taught student using antique hand tools and techniques of pioneer woodsmen and sculptors.

He then moved back to Texas and worked at the Rusk State Hospital for 3 years and retired with the State. He then moved to San Angelo in 2006 and worked representing people in Social Security Hearings and as a Claims Agent for Veterans. He was also an author of 4 books. And enjoyed writing poetry including his favorite, Big Bill Thompson.

In San Angelo, he built a massive, hand carved adobe fence around his house, and built a workshop and pulley system to allow him to refit a metal building with a cedar ceiling. He spent many years there, building countless wood, marble, limestone, sandstone, and metal sculptures, and built several complex machines, like a Da Vinci Pole Lathe and a shaving horse.

He was able to fulfill his life long dream of taking an adventure on the sea. He purchased a 38 foot Cruiser that was so big it was considered a yacht. He named the boat, Three Dog Night because he also took along his two dogs and his shipmate’s dog. He left in late March 2018. Starting in Savana Georgia, went to the coast of Georgia, Florida and finished at the Bahamas in May. He travelled over 1,000 miles. His plan was to travel all over the world but his health caused him to return home.

Following a fight with cancer, he moved in with his daughter, Christy, and enjoyed a new life there as one of her family, where he lived out his days, closely surrounded by family who loved him very much. Together, Christy and John built an outside water fountain, an inside fountain, reconstructed one of his sculptures, put together a boat trailer and were working on building a 8 foot tall moon gate which will be completed in his honor.

He is survived by his son, John Chilton Webb III and daughter in law, DeeDee and daughter, Christy (Webb) Rose and son in law, Shawn; five grandchildren: Alexander, Victoria, Annabelle, Gavin and Hannah; two step sons and five step grandchildren, step great-grandchildren and several cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Betty, his sister, Betty Louise and his wife Annie Laurie Douglass and second wife Bonnie Gurley.

He was the best dad, and by constant example, showed his children and grandchildren how magical life could be. John loved to say as he was leaving, parting is such sweet sorrow…

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.