Webb Saunders

Candler - Webb Saunders, a long-time resident of Western North Carolina, passed away quietly on Saturday, October 30, 2004, at the age of 92 in the Solace Center in Asheville. For the past few years, he was cared for in the home of his niece Carolyn Haney and her husband Charlie, after the death of his beloved wife, Ruby B. Crook, in 2001. Webb was born on Sept. 3, 1912, in Saltville, Virginia, the son of William B. Saunders and Virginia Dare Morgan. His family moved to North Carolina and he grew up in Newfound Valley, a small farming community nestled in the Smoky Mountains only five miles northwest of Asheville. Then his family moved to the Candler area where he attended Candler Academy and enjoyed playing football and baseball. In 1927, at the young age of 15, Webb made a cross-country trip to the state of Washington where he worked in a logging camp. As the Great Depression wrought economic havoc, the logging camps closed and Webb returned to Candler and took work as an apprentice lead burner at America Enka Corporation. A lead burner is to lead as a welder is to steel. During this time, he honed his skills as a craftsman and mechanic in a field that would become his lifelong trademark and provide international travel opportunities. While at Enka, Webb mastered plumbing and pipe fitting skills. He also enjoyed sports and played industrial league baseball for American Enka as a catcher. Upon completion of his apprenticeship, Webb went to work for Dupont Corporation in Old Hickory, Tennessee in 1936. Then he got a job with New England Lead Burning Company for which he worked on projects related to the construction of rayon and nylon plants. When WWII began the focus of his work shifted to ordinance plants where wartime munitions were manufactured. During the war years, Webb worked for O.G. Kelly Lead Company in Boston, Mass., one of the major contractors in the lead construction industry, on large building projects for the U.S. Defense Plant Corporation (DPC). As a journeyman lead burner and project superintendent, he traveled nationally and worked in every state except for North Dakota. Webb received his private pilot license in 1944 in hopes of flying military bombers to US installations in Europe. However, the war ended before he was able to do so. The mid 1940s saw a growth of fertilizer manufacturing plants in the southeastern United States. Webb supervised lead construction work for International Minerals and Chemical Corporation and built multiple fertilizer plants in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. He also headed up a crew on a naval storage facility in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Webb's work took him to international venues as he supervised work in Cuba, Mexico and South America. Webb Saunders is survived by his children from his deceased wife Mary: daughter Sandra Sider and her husband David, of New York City; his two sons, William Pace Saunders, of Midland, Texas, and John Webb Saunders and his wife Sue, of Fort Myers, FL; five grandchildren, Abigail Sider and her husband David Shayne, Los Angeles, CA, Jacob Sider, San Francisco, CA, Justina Saunders, Ozona, TX, Will Saunders, Midland, TX, and Kimberly Bishop and her husband Brad, Honolulu, HI, and one great-grandchild, Abigail Bishop, Honolulu, HI. Additionally surviving is his sister Judith Herren of Candler. Special thanks to Dr. Robert Steward, VHP nurse, Lynnee Barrett and Mountain Area Hospice. Graveside services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, November 1, 2004 at Pisgah View Memorial Park in Candler with Mr. Jim Crabtree officiating. Masonic graveside rites will be conducted by Hominy Lodge #491 AF&AM. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mt. Moriah Wesleyan Church, 3 Fairmont Road, Candler, NC 28715.

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