The community mourns the passing of Ted Webb, a beloved pharmacist, businessman and community leader who passed away at 93 years old.
“I lost the best man I’ve ever known,” his son, Frank Webb, reflected on social media. “He loved me with his whole heart, and I loved him. He taught me how to be a man, a husband, a father and a pharmacist. I will miss him until I see him again. My loss is Heaven’s gain.”
Mr. Webb will not only be remembered for the iconic downtown business, Webb’s Pharmacy, which remains on Main Street today. But he will also be remembered for his dedication to the local community, his love for family and friends, his solid faith and commitment to his church family and for his contagious, kind spirit.
Funeral services for Mr. Webb were held last Sunday at Parkway Funeral Home in Ridgeland. Burial followed in Memorial Park Cemetery in Louisville, Miss.
Mr. Webb was born in Louisville on August 9, 1932 to Maude Marie Clement and Earl Johnson Webb. He attended the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the Campus Senate. He graduated from the School of Pharmacy in 1955.
His arrival to Yazoo City was announced in The Yazoo Herald in June of 1955. It was the first of many news articles, spanning over six decades.
“Ted Webb, who graduated from the University of Mississippi, has accepted a position as a registered pharmacist at Cortwright’s,” the 1955 article reads. “Webb, formerly made his home in Louisville, is being welcomed to Yazoo City as a new resident.”
He later married Patricia Wilson.
One cannot reflect on Mr. Webb’s life without the history of that local pharmacy. The pharmacy first opened in 1882 by R.S. Wheless on Main Street. Through the years, the business saw new owners and a new location. When the business arrived at its current location, the Webb family began its own history there. After Ted Webb purchased the business in the 1960s, his son Frank became the face of the pharmacy when he took over the family business in 1993.
When Frank joined the pharmacy after college, many within the community asked him what it was like to be working alongside his father.
“He said we had an understanding, and we did,” Frank said, in a 2015 Herald article. “He said, ‘I’m the boss. Do you understand?’”
Mr. Webb will be remembered for his generous heart and a kind spirit. He is remembered by all as being a true gentleman. Through the years he led many organizations including the Rotary Club, the Ole Miss Alumni Chapter, and the Yazoo County Chamber of Commerce. He sang in the choir at First Methodist Church, where he was an active member.
Mr. Webb was also inducted into the Manchester Academy Hall of Fame in 2016. He served as President of the Board of Manchester Academy in its formative years in the 1970s and was a steadying influence for the school as it built facilities, recruited teachers and established itself as a successful college preparatory school in Yazoo County. All three of the Webb children and two granddaughters graduated from MA.
When Nick and Ann King purchased Webb’s Pharmacy in 2018, the local entrepreneurs marked the sixth owners of the business that began over a century ago. Since the 1880s, the business has offered its services with hometown friendliness. It has been a family business with employees who care about Yazoo.
But there was still a heavy presence of the Webb family within its walls.
“I’m just tickled to death to know that there is still a Webb’s Pharmacy in Yazoo City,” Mr. Webb told The Herald in one of his last interviews.
And thanks to Mr. Webb’s lasting legacy to Yazoo, the Webb name will certainly remain as well.
