Newspaper, Profile of Truman Webb, Sr., LaSalle Parish La.
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From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Wednesday, March 8, 2000, Section B,
Page 5 
Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the
Archives. 
A Times-Signal Feature...."Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute 
Truman Webb has lived in LaSalle Parish for most of his life, been married for
52 years,
and has led singing at the same church for 60 years. For all this week's
Citizen profile is
known for, his character and reputation stands out the most.
Anyone who has ever met Truman Webb, Sr. of Rogers will tell you he is one of
the most
friendliest men in LaSalle Parish. Always willing to help a neighbor and
always lending 
encouraging words of wisdom to anyone who asks.
He was born in Gainsville, Louisiana, born August 5, 1916, to Lorn Joseph Webb
and Anna Whatley Webb. They moved to Rogers shortly after he was born and with
the exception of a few years in Jackson Parish, he has been a lifelong
resident of LaSalle Parish.
Mr. Webb was the only son in the family with one older sister and one younger
sister. Their father farmed for the food they ate and worked in the logging
woods. He was a part of the generation that worked for the timber companies
which ultimately cut all the virgin timber from the parish.
"We raised everything we ate, from our corn meal to our tobacco," Mr. Webb
said.
"We also raised our own meat in cattle and hogs, we actually ate pretty good."
Growing up, when he wasn't helping his dad on the farm. Mr. Webb attended the
Magnolia School, which was located some four and a half miles from their home.
"We had a pretty good school at Magnolia at one time," he recalls. "We had
three rooms and it went to the tenth grade."
Mr. Webb remembers walking the four-plus miles to school and back each day,
most of the time barefooted.
"We went to school barefooted, just like a lot of other kids during that
time," he said. "I remember one place along the way was filled with a bunch of
pine roots sticking up out of the ground. "I'm here to tell you we left a pile
of toenails on those pine roots - where we'd knocked them off coming through
them."
He graduated from the ninth grade and was set to enter his final year at
Magnolia when he quit school to help his father.
Being the only son meant that he had to help his dad with all the farming and
chores that needed to be done.
When he wasn't helping his father, he was helping his Uncle Whatley sand for
fish in Little River. Mr. Webb remembers in the middle 1930s, when the Hodge
Mill released its "black water" into the Little River and it killed all of the
river's fish."
"When the Hodge paper mill put that black water into Little River, it was so
many dead fish in the river that if they would held you up you could have
walked across the river," he said. "Before then Little River was loaded with
fish."
Also during this time, Mr. Webb helped his aunt manage her 310 head of cattle.
"During this time, the shingle ticks were terrible in these parts and the
range riders made everyone dip their cattle ever two weeks to get rid of them"
he said. "Well, she had 310 head and we stayed pretty busy working those
cattle getting ride of the ticks. And do you know, we've never had them back
here since."
Mr. Webb remembers that his aunt had each one of her cows named, and by the
time he'd finished working her cattle, he knew each and everyone of them by
their names.
Work back in those days was long and hard, as he recalls. And he laughs at how
much he was paid back then.
"In the early 1930s, we would work 10 hour days and get paid 40 cents for all
that hard work" he said. "One day they told me I was getting a raise and I got
a dime which made me make 50 cents a day. And I want you to know that you had
to work hard for that money too."
"life was so much different back then," he said. "No one had any of the modern
conveniences we have today, in fact, most people walked everywhere they went,
grew everything they ate, and passed the time looking at the stars and such.
It was just a different time."
"In 1923, my dad bought the first car that I'd ever seen," he said. "It was a
used Model T. In 1925, after a good year in the timber business, he bought his
first new car, another Model T. I still remember to this day him paying cash
for the car - exactly $508.10.
There are many things about growing up that Mr. Webb remembers, during those
years of the 1920s and 1930s.
The worst ice storm he'd ever seen occurred in 1923. "I mean to tell you we
had a severe ice storm during that year," Mr. Webb said. "I remember that ice
as everywhere and the icicles hanging from the roof top were so big they
touched the ground."
"It was so cold that everyone lost nearly all their livestock," he said. "I
remember me and my grandfather was on the porch and we watched as several cows
slowly walked through the ice in front of our house. I remember him telling
me, 'Look at that, those cows are hunting a place to go and died.' Sure
enough, the next day we found them by the pond, dead."
Mr. Webb said that many people lost many heads of cattle during the ice storm
from freezing to death. He also recalls that the hollows in the country were
filled with dead hogs which had also frozen to death.
Over the years, Mr. Webb said that this area has not experienced as many cold
winters as once was seen. He could vividly recall many winters where it would
be not be uncommon for 18-20 inches of snow to fall in this parish. "Now-a-
days we seldom get a snow and if we do it certainly doesn't stick for 18
inches," he said. "I don't know why we don't have the winters we used too."
While the winters may not be as cold, Mr. Webb does recall that summers were
just as hot. And along with the heat and all the water in southern LaSalle
Parish, mosquitoes seemed to be even worse back then than they are today.
"I know its hard to believe, but I'm telling you that mosquitoes used to be
worse than they are now," he said. "One man said they were so bad that you had
to burn a hole through them every morning just to see the sun rise."
During those early years, Mr. Webb recalls all the virgin timber that filled
the country of LaSalle Parish. "I'm tell you the truth, that virgin pine
timber was the biggest and prettiest I've ever saw," he said. "Those trees
were so big, it would be 40 to 60 feet before the first limb on them."
Mr. Webb remembers that when the wind would blow through the country that it
would make a whistling sound blowing through the huge timbers. "You could
always hear that wind blowing through them and I always thought that that's
where the song came from 'Whistling Pines'," he said.
He also remembers when the last of the virgin pines were cut down in 1935. The
lumber companies had left just a few virgin timbers scattered and during 1935
they came in and cut them out as well," Mr. Webb said.
One of the last trees cut was perhaps the largest tree in LaSalle Parish. It
stood for an unknown number of years on a hill by Bacon Run. Mr. Webb said
that when the lumber company came to cut it, it took a long time just to cut
it down.
"That tree measured six feet in diameter and the old two man buck saw was just
over six foot," he said. "So they didn't have that much room to maneuver the
saw. But eventually they got it down." He remembers that the lumber company
superintendent said that it was the largest pine that had ever come through
the Good Pine office.
"When they scaled it out, he said that there was enough lumber in that one
tree to frame up 22 houses (like they made back then)," Mr. Webb said. "People
today just can't imagine how beautiful this country was with all those virgin
trees - I can't even being to describe it."
When Mr. Webb was 22 years, old he moved to Jonesboro-Hodge and worked for a
fish market there. During this time, his sister was living in Alexandria and
her roommate was a girl by the name of Ruth DeVore from DeRidder. Well, while
on a trip to Alexandria to visit his sister, Mr. Webb met the young DeVore
girl and seven months later they were married.
When asked if it was love at first sight, Mr. Webb replied, "Well, I guess it
was, we got married soon after we met."
They met in October of 1947 and it was on Valentine's Day in 1948 when Mr.
Webb says that Mrs. Ruth asked him to marry her. (They both laughed at the
statement." So in April of 1948, the Webbs were married and this April they
will celebrate 52 years of marriage bliss.
After the wedding, they lived in Jonesboro for two years and then they moved
back to his homeplace in Rogers. Mr. Webb went to work in the oil field in
1954, working for H.L. Hunt. He would retire in 1978 after working for the
Hunt Petroleum Company for 24 years.
During this time, the Webb's would raise two children: one son, Truman "Sonny"
Webb, Jr. and one daughter, Gail Webb Cooper. Both of their children still
reside near their parents in the Rogers community.
Life in the Webb house was typical of most families of that era. Church was a
big part of the Webb's life and they seldom missed a Sunday service. "We've
gone to Hurricane Creek Baptist Church all of our lives," Mr. Webb said. "I've
been trying to lead the music there for 60 years now, and Gail has played the
piano there since she was nine years old."
In fact, all of the Webbs still attend the church, which is located just a few
miles from their houses through the woods on the road which connects LA 127
with LA 8.
"The Lord has blessed us 10 million times," Mr. Webb acknowledged. "He has
been so good to us in so many ways that we can't even begin to name them."
And the Webb's marriage has been one of faithfulness and commitment. Both Mr.
And Mrs. Webb said that the secret to their marriage has been both treating
each other good and keeping the Lord the center of their marriage.
"If I could tell young married people one thing it would be to treat each
other good and look to the Lord for guidance" Mr. Webb said. "Do what you can
for each other - look to the Lord and He will take care of you."
When asked why they think marriages don't last like they do from their
generation, they thought long about an answer. "I don't really know the
answer," Mr. Webb said. "I guess it really has to do with a lot of things. For
one, most just get out and get married before they know what's going on."
"We firmly believe in the scripture that says 'what God hath joined together
let no man put asunder'," he said, 'the problem is I don't think God has
anything to do with most marriages today. It really is a pitiful situation,"
he continued. "Now-a-days there's a lot of live-ins. Back when we were growing
up, the 'white sheets' would have a hanging if anyone was caught living with
each other without, being married."
"I guess the root of the whole thing is the breakdown of the family," Mr. Webb
said. "Our young people are not getting it at home. Part of this problem is
that both parents are working and they're letting other people - the world -
raise their kids. "We've got to get back to setting the example at home for
our children to have any hope."
Mr. Webb said that if he could pass on just one bit of encouraging word for
everyone to heed, it would be for everyone to turn to God for all their needs
and guidance.
"God to church and live for the Lord," he said. "Let Him take charge of your
life and everything will work out fine. I know it has in my life."
Just a few more words of wisdom from one of LaSalle Parish's most respected
men, Truman Webb. If only our parish had more men with the character and
reputation that he has earned over this 83 years, what a better place we'd
live in.
Thank you, Mr. Webb, for your example and may God continue to bless your life
for the dedication you've shown to Him.