As Dad tells the story, he met Sylvia West (Eaton, CO) at the Greeley Rodeo fairgrounds when they agreed to a first date. As Bill pulled his car into the farmyard of her Swedish family, he remembered Sylvia's parents standing outside to "look him over". But before he could drive his car out of the yard, she reminded him of her rules for dating (if you knew Mom you can hear her saying this). Dad admitted that he was taken back but later said that he had accepted the challenge and was the better for it. And the rest is history. Theirs was a story befitting of Camelot. Their love and commitment to each other remained an example to their community for 67 years. His proclivity for agriculture stemmed from time spent with his grandfather where work on the farm cultivated a desire to be engaged in the ag industry. Dad graduated from Greeley high school in 1950 and attended Culver Military Academy as a postgraduate. Bill enrolled at Colorado State University in 1952 but felt compelled to pursue other commitments.
Shortly after his marriage, Bill was ordered to Fort Richardson in the Alaskan Territory. It would be 62 years later when at age 81, Dad graduated from Colorado State University. Unbeknownst to his family and despite all his accomplishments, he had long coveted this achievement and was determined to notch in his college degree. After years of managing farms for his father, he struck out on his own in 1961 to establish Webster Land and Cattle Company. What was originally a 3,000 head capacity feedlot, grew to Webster Feedlots, Inc., a 25,000+ head capacity partly because of Bill's revolutionary improvements in the livestock industry that included the feeding of "flaked" corn and helping introduce computer technology to the cattle industry. To this day, flaked corn remains a heavily relied upon product in the beef cattle industry.
In 1991, after 30 years of commercial cattle feeding, Bill decided to pursue elected positions on the county and state levels and served as Weld County commissioner at large from 1991-98 and served four years in the Colorado State Legislature from 2000-2004. He founded the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County, served on the Board of Directors for Safeway Stores, Inc. as the only agricultural professional at the time and was active in many agriculture-related and community-based organizations including the National Cattleman's Beef Association, President of Weld County CSU Alumni Association, Director of the Colorado Waters Congress and President of Colorado Cattle Feeder's Association. Bill also served on many organizations for his community including the Weld County Community Foundation, United Way, Greeley Independence Stampede, Greeley Rotary and countless other organizations.
Bill Webster was an institution and played an enormous role in developing the cattle industry in Colorado. He traveled the country giving lectures on the use of computerized records to improve beef production and advocated consumer education and improved public relations. His numerous contributions are impossible to measure and in 2017 earned him an induction into the FFA Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame. As Don Brown, former Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture said at Bill's induction, "there wasn't a man who feed a hoof who didn't know Bill Webster". Bill is survived by his three children Wade (Ann), Dan (Dawn) and Perry including ten grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. Our family is indebted to the wonderful caregivers for the support and love they gave to Bill.
Bill's celebration of life will be held at the First Congregational Church on Saturday, January 21st at 2 pm with a reception immediately following at the Macy Chapel in the Allnutt Funeral home on the west side of Greeley. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Weld County Community Foundation in care of Allnutt Funeral Service at 6521 W. 20th ST, Greeley, CO. Please visit www.allnuttgreeley.com to send condolences to the family.
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