Patricia Claire Webber

05/16/2007

Patricia Claire Webber, 84, of Middle Road, Rockport, formerly of Great Barrington, died Wednesday at Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester. Born in Gloucester on Nov. 29, 1922, daughter of Frederick K. and Marion Hudder Lufkin, she attended Eastern Avenue Elementary School and graduated with honors from Gloucester High School in 1940. She earned a bachelor's in biology from the University of Rochester in 1945 and attended Eastman School of Music. She was a member and officer of the university's Dance Club. During World War II, Mrs. Webber completed the Hartford, Conn.-based Hamilton Standard Co.'s program in propeller engineering at Pennsylvania State University. She served with the Red Cross in Washington. She was employed by Hamilton Standard (now part of United Technologies) in its jet propeller program and was instrumental in developing cleaning solvents and maintaining jet propellers. Mrs. Webber had the occasion to join famed inventor Igor Sikorsky on a test flight of one of his prototype helicopters. Following her marriage to William S. Webber III in 1948, the family moved to Great Barrington, where they resided for more than 50 years on Knob Hill. She was one of the original directors of Elder Services of Berkshire County. She volunteered with Reading for the Blind, HospiceCare in the Berkshires and the Lake Mansfield Association. She was a library commissioner for Mason Public Library in Great Barrington and served many years on the Republican Town Committee. At age 61, she and her husband volunteered with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. She later volunteered in Costa Rica with Habitat for Humanity. Mrs. Webber was a member of several vocal groups, including the Stockbridge Chamber Singers. Besides her husband, she leaves four sons, William Webber IV of Amesbury; Peter C. Webber of Rockport, Mark F. Webber of West Stockbridge and Christopher H. Webber of Chester, N.J.; a daughter, Lauri Webber-Bahnson of Newark, Del.; and 12 grandchildren. FUNERAL NOTICE -- A memorial service for Patricia Claire Lufkin Webber, who died Wednesday, May 18, 2007, will be held tomorrow at BIRCHES-ROY FUNERAL HOME, 33 South St., Great Barrington, at 2 p.m. Visiting hours will be held at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Burial will follow in St. Peter's Cemetery, Great Barrington. Memorial gifts may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701, or to Mason Library, both in care of the funeral home. Mrs. Webber leaves four daughters-in-law, Leigh Hosier Webber, Karen Anderson Webber, Patricia Larkin Webber and Karen Starkey Webber; a son-in-law, Brian Bahnson; and her grandchildren, William Webber V, Dana Webber Leggett, Andrew, Benjamin, Matthew, Brian, Carolyn, Michael, Julianne and Tyler Webber, and Jeffrey and Megan Bahnson; and a niece, Jill Webber. She had a lifelong love for music. She began taking singing lessons as a young teen in Gloucester and often attended two churches on Sundays, one Protestant and the other Catholic, to have more opportunities to sing with the choir. At college, she sang and danced in several student productions. She loved Tanglewood and Frank Sinatra. She was an avid skier, beginning as a teen in the 1930s and continuing to ski the slopes at Butternut well into her 70s. She was skilled at tennis as well, playing for many summers at Wyantenuck and many winters at Jug End. She was a world traveler and joined her oldest son on safari in Kenya. She particularly loved the Berkshires and Cape Ann. She was a beautiful, vibrant, talented, loving and giving woman who was deeply loved by her family and by many friends, and she will be dearly missed by all.

Obituaries

Celebrating Lives & Legacies

Patricia Claire Webber

Memorials