Richard “Dick” St. Clare Webbe, 97, formerly of Indian River County, passed away on April 19, 2015, while recovering from hip surgery.
He is survived by his son Dr. Frank Webbe (Ellen) of Palm Bay; daughter Roseanne Schlossberg of Benbrook, Texas; granddaughter Elizabeth Lunny (B.J.) of Stamford, Conn.; grandchildren Tristan Webbe (Jess) of Mansfield, Mass. and Timothy Munson and Maricarol Anderson (Shawn) both of Benbrook, Texas; great-grandsons Ben and Michael Lunny, Brennan Webbe, and Asher Anderson.
Webbe was born to Dr. Robert St. Clare and Hazel Sickels Webbe in Port Chester, N.Y. on April 6, 1918. He attended Port Chester primary schools, the Tome School, and Admiral Farragut Academy. In 1937 while at Farragut, Webbe and a friend went AWOL to watch the arrival of the German Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg, at nearby Lakehurst, and found themselves pulling survivors to safety after the catastrophic explosion and fire.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. Assigned to Vero Beach NAS in 1942, Webbe had a hand in establishing all the small east central Florida Naval airfields and training sites. He entered flight training in 1943, but was reassigned to carrier aircraft maintenance in 1944. He was called back to flight training early in 1945, which kept him from sailing on the carrier Franklin, whose final wartime cruise ended in the death of 800 of her hands and near destruction of the ship.
While stationed in Vero Beach he married his beloved Peggy (Buckles) in 1943. They stayed happily married until Peggy’s death in 2001.
After honorable discharge in 1945, Webbe served the Fellsmere Sugar Producers Association as purchasing agent. He and Peggy lived on 200 feet of Indian River shoreline, just north of the old Sebastian Inn. In 1950 they moved to Miami for Webbe’s new job as a plumbing supply salesman with the old Crane Company. He later represented many national manufacturers and founded several companies.
Webbe introduced affordable stainless steel sinks in Florida, which he considered his greatest business achievement. He and Peggy moved to Ashley Manor in West Melbourne in 1988, and Webbe moved to Pine Creek in Melbourne in 2004.
Following a 25-year hiatus from flying, Webbe earned his instrument rating and owned and flew Beech F-35 and A-36 Bonanzas, and a Cessna P-210N.
Not content with riding in the sky, his hobby in the 1960’s and 70’s was sports car racing. He held an SCCA national competition license and raced and won at many tracks in the southeast, including Daytona. A friend of Bill since 1960, Dick often said that conversations with Lois and Bill W. at their Bedford Hills, N.Y. home changed the course of his life. Until the end, Webbe gave back to those in the fellowship, always thankful for the serenity and good life bestowed upon him.
A memorial mass and reception to celebrate Dick’s long and productive life will be held at 11 a.m. on May 16, 2015 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Melbourne.
