William S. Webber, III ’42 died May 6, 2011.
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WILLIAM S. WEBBER III ’42
Bill Webber died peacefully on May 6, 2011, in Great Barrington, Mass., surrounded by his family.
Bill came to Amherst from Gloucester, Mass. He joined Delta Tau Delta and worked on Touchstone magazine for four years. According to his son Bill ’71, his father claimed to have a “devastating curveball” when he pitched for the freshman baseball team but admitted that his fastball was very hittable.
Following graduation, Bill spent a year in the ROTC-Harvard Business School program and then opted for assignment to an air-sea rescue unit in the Atlantic, telling interviewers that the lack of maritime experience was overshadowed by the fact that the sea was in the blood of all Gloucester men.
Honorably discharged in February 1946 as a first lieutenant, Bill returned to Harvard, earning his M.B.A. in 1946. He then worked for the Insurance Company of North America in Hartford, Conn., meeting Patricia (“Trish”) there and marrying her in 1948.
They moved to Great Barrington in 1951, where Bill joined the Wheeler & Taylor Insurance Agency and they raised a family of four boys and a girl. During this period, Bill was very active in Great Barrington community affairs.
In 1978, Bill entered what he called his “fun years.” In 1979, he earned a M.A. in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island. After a stint as fisheries commissioner in Gloucester, he and his son Bill bought an insurance agency in New Milford, Conn. Then, in 1984, Bill and Trish joined the Peace Corps, serving two years in the Dominican Republic. In 1987, Bill was in Panama as country director of the International Service Corps until Noriega “suggested” he leave.
In recent years, Bill lost his beloved wife and his health deteriorated. However, he continued to be a devoted fan of the Boston sports teams, particularly the Red Sox.
—Ted Heisler ’42
with help from Bill Webber IV ’71