Ray Theodore Webb

He was fiercely independent, feared nothing and a hard worker. He loved his family, especially his wife Kay, whom he married in 1958 when he was 18 and she was 15.

He was loyal and treated everyone with respect. Until (or unless) they showed they didn’t deserve it.

He built the house where he and Kay - Mama Kay to those they held close - raised four kids. He grew his own food, too, a ½- acre garden, an apple orchard and hogs. And he managed to save a tidy nest egg despite never once earning more than $20,000 a year working factory jobs.

Ray borrowed money once, a modest sum he needed to buy the lumber and bricks for the house and paid it back early. The rest of life’s “necessities,” cars and such, he and Kay saved and paid cash for. He never needed, nor wanted, a credit card, either.

He loved to fish, and in his younger days, enjoyed untaxed corn liquor and an all-night poker game. He took a vacation once, a dove hunting trip to Nebraska, but preferred staying close. “Why would I sleep somewhere else when I have a perfectly good bed at home?” he’d say.

He bowled a near 300 game once to win a bet, and may or may not have done it with his left hand.

He survived a lightning strike once, too. He was hit taking his work boots off while standing next to an outdoor sink. He didn’t miss any work, and from that day forward he wouldn’t allow anyone living under his roof to shower when thunderstorms were in the area.

The man was country strong. Tough as a proverbial pine knot.

Well into his 40s, Ray could still jump onto a kitchen counter from a standing start. And when

his youngest daughter was being recruited to play basketball at UNC Charlotte, Ray was as proud as he could be, but kept her humble by beating her in a foot race.

To outsiders, Ray Webb could seem stern. That can happen when you’re forced to be a grown man before you’re old enough to vote.

That hard veneer softened in a big way as his eight grandchildren grew. “I love you” became a regular part of his vocabulary. He started smiling more.

Still, the man could be stubborn. The day he fell from a roof and shattered a hip while cleaning gutters - after being advised that it wasn't a wise move for an 82-year-old - was, shall we say, memorable.

And in later years, when Kay got sick, he took care of her every need. Men of his age and station in life didn’t cook or clean.

But he learned to and patiently made sure his wife ate, bathed and took the right medicine at the right time.

It cost him, too. He broke a vertebrae while attempting to prevent Kay from falling.

But he never complained and rarely asked for help, even when wearing a back brace, though he was grateful when staff from “Hoskins” - Hospice to the rest of us - started checking in.

Ray Webb did those things because he believed that’s what men should do: take care of their families. Period.

He’s at peace now, finally able to rest. He was 86 when he died Monday afternoon.

Ray Webb is survived by four children, Stephen Webb, Diane McLean, Scott Webb and Barbara Sexton, their spouses, a brother Howard Webb and seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by parents Robey Lee and Eva Estelle Webb, brothers Horace, Guy and Vernon and a sister Evelyn, and two grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held at Oak Hill United Methodist Church Cemetery on Thursday, August 28th, 2025 at 2:00 pm at 2239 NC-181 Morganton, NC 28655 with Chaplain Daphne Taylor officiating.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to Amorem, formerly known as Burke palliative care, online at www.amoremsupport.org or by mail at Amorem, 902 Kirkwood St. NW, Lenoir, N.C. 28645.

Condolences may be left at www.catawbamemorialpark.com.

The Webb Family is under the care of Catawba Funeral Home.