Robert McMillan’s Tribute to Justice John Webb
Robert McMillan, senior partner with McMillan Smith & Plyler, allowed me to publish his tribute to North Carolina Supreme Court Justice John Webb. Mr. McMillan presented the tribute on 6/19/09 at a memorial service in Wake County Superior Court which honored Justice Webb and other Wake County attorneys who passed away in the preceeding year. The tribute is published in its entirety.
JUSTICE JOHN WEBB
SINCE THE SUMMER OF 1933 I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED JOHN WEBB AND
HIS EXTENDED FAMILY.
FOR EIGHT YEARS MY BROTHER, ARCHIE, AND I SPENT OUR SUMMERS IN
RURAL SCOTLAND COUNTY AT THE MCMILLAN HOME PLACE WITH OUR
THREE MAIDEN AUNTS WHO, IN MY MIND, HAD NO EARTHLY REASON FOR
EXISTING BEYOND THAT OF MAKING LIFE PLEASANT FOR ME. THIS THEY
DID TO A MARKED DEGREE. ‘FACILITIES’ WERE NON EXISTENT, BUT THE
FOOD WAS SCRUMPTIOUS. THE WATERS OF THE LUMBEE RIVER IN WHICH
WE SPENT MOST OF THE DAY LIGHT HOURS WERE CLEAR AND COLD EVEN
ON THE HOTTEST DAYS OF AUGUST. THERE WAS EVEN A TENNIS COURT,
ONE OF THE FIRST IN THE STATE.
JOHN WEBB AND HIS FAMILY SPENT THEIR SUMMERS WITH NUMEROUS
KIN IN A NEARBY COTTAGE DURING THIS SAME ERA ENJOYING THE SAME
BARE BUT IDYLLIC EXISTENCE.
NOT UNTIL THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II DID THIS SHARING OF
MUTUAL JOYS CEASE.
IT HAPPENS THAT I SPENT THE AFTERNOON OF DECEMBER 7, 1941, IN THE
WEBB HOME IN WILSON LISTENING TO THE RADIO BROADCAST OF THE
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR, A PLACE OF WHICH NONE PRESENT HAD
EVER HEARD BEFORE THAT DAY.
EVER SINCE THOSE TIMES MY CONTACT WITH JUSTICE WEBB AND HIS
FAMILY HAS BEEN INTIMATE, GRATIFYING AND INSPIRATIONAL.
HE WAS EDUCATEEDD IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WILSON. HE WAS ACTIVE
IN ALL SCHOOL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING PLAYING ON THE CHARLES L.
COON FOOTBALL TEAM. HE PLAYED WITH HEART AND DEVELOPED A
KEEN INTEREST IN ATHLETICS AT ALL LEVELS. HE EVOLVED INTO ONE OF
THE STATISTIC NERDS WHO COULD CITE BATTING AVERAGES, EARNED
RUN AVERAGES, FOOTBALL YARDS GAINED, PASSES COMPLETED AND
THE LIKE.
IMMEDIATELY UPON GRADUATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL HE ENLISTED IN
THE U.S. NAVY SERVING HONORABLY THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF
WORLD WAR II.
AFTER MILITARY SERVICE HE ENTERED U.N.C. CHAPEL HILL AT WHICH
INSTITUTION HE AMASSED AN EXEMPLARY RECORD SCHOLASTICALLY
AND IN THE FULL LIFE OF THE UNIVERSITY.
HE COMPLETED HIS FORMAL EDUCATION IN THE LAW SCHOOL OF
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.
FOLLOWING GRADUATION FROM LAW SCHOOL HE PRACTICED LAW IN
NEW YORK CITY FOR A WHILE BEFORE RETURNING TO NORTH CAROLINA
WITH AN ASSIGNMENT WITH THE INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT AT CHAPEL
HILL.
THEREAFTER HE PRACTICED LAW IN WILSON WITH RUSSELL KIRBY. THE
TWO OF THEM, IN DUE COURSE, TOOK IN A YOUNG, ASPIRING LAWYER
NAMED JAMES B. HUNT, JR., A NAME WITH WHICH SOME OF YOU MAY BE
FAMILIAR.
FOLLOWING SEVERAL YEARS OF GENERAL LAW PRACTICE JUSTICE WEBB
WAS APPOINTED TO THE SUPERIOR COURT BENCH BY GOVENOR ROBERT
SCOTT. HE THRIVED IN THIS POSITION: ENJOYING THE TRAVEL, THE
VARIETY OF CASES, COMRADERIE WITH THE BAR AND LOCAL POLITICAL
LEADERS ACROSS THE STATE.
GOVERNOR HUNT APPOINTED HIM TO THE COURT OF APPEALS. HE
SERVED FOR MANY YEARS ON THIS COURT, FORMING BONDS OF
FRIENDSHIP WITH JUSTICE BURLEY MITCHELL AND OTHER MEMBERS OF
THE COURT. HE WAS PARTICULARLY WELL SUITED FOR THIS POSITION
DUE TO HIS SKILLS AS A LEGAL SCHOLAR.
THEREAFTER HE RAN FOR AND WAS ELECTED TO THE STATE SUPREME
COURT. THIS POSITION, TOO, WAS APPEALING TO HIM CALLING FOR THE
HIGH CALIBRE SCHOLARSHIP OF WHICH HE WAS SO CAPABLE. IN
ADDITION, BEING ON THE SUPREME COURT WAS FOLLOWING THE
FAMILY TRADITION SET BY HIS PATERNAL GREAT UNCLE, CHIEF JUSTICE
WILLIAM A. DEVIN.
IN LIFE BEYOND THE REALM OF THE LAW, JUSTICE WEBB WAS VERY
ACTIVE. FOR MANY YEARS HE TAUGHT AN ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL
CLASS IN THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF WILSON. HE ALSO SERVED AS A
TRUSTEE OF THE STATE BAPTIST CONVENTION.
WHILE HE WAS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN OTHER CIVIC ACTIVITIES IN
WILSON COUNTY HE NEVER LOST INTEREST IN ATHLETICS, NURTURED IN
HIS YOUTH. HE WAS AN AVID FAN OF SCHOOL TEAMS IN WILSON AND
THE ACTIVITIES OF ATLANTIC CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (BARTON COLLEGE)
AND THE MUNICIPAL TEAMS.
HE TOOK GREAT CIVIC PRIDE IN REMINDING ALL AND SUNDRY THAT A
WILSON BOY NAMED JAP DAVIS WAS THE STAR FULL BACK ON WALLACE
WADE’S GREATEST TEAM. FURTHERMORE, HE COULD TELL YOU ALL
ABOUT THE DAYS OF THE ‘BIG FIVE’ WHEN DAVIDSON WAS STILL A
MEMBER WITH STAN YODER AND TEENEY LAFFERTY STARRING AND OUR
MUTUAL FRIEND, TOSS’ MCLEAN PLAYING. DURING HIS LAW SCHOOL
YEARS HE LEARNED THE LORE OF COLUMBIA’S TEAMS UNDER COACH
LOU LITTLE AND HIS GREATEST STARS, SID LUCKMAN AND PAUL
GOVERNALI. NEVER LOSING THE ‘TAR HEEL’ TOUCH HE POINTED OUT
THAT COLUMBIA WENT TO THE ROSE BOWL MANY YEARS AGO WITH
THEIR STAR BACK, CLIFF MONTGOMERY (NOT MONTGOMERY CLIFT)
WHOSE BROTHER, HARRY MONTGOMERY WAS A RUNNING BACK FOR THE
TAR HEELS. HE WAS A BOOSTER OF ALL ACTIVITIES OF THE TEAMS OF
U.N.C. CHAPEL HILL. SELDOM, IF EVER, DID HE MISS A HOME FOOTBALL
GAME. HE KNEW FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, TENNIS AND ALL
THE REST.
JUSTICE WEBB EPITOMIZED THE TERM: ‘A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR’.
ALL OF US KNEW HIM AS THE ULTIMATE GENTLEMAN, ‘WALKING WITH
KINGS, BUT SERVING THE MASSES AS PEERS’. HE WAS A SCHOLAR OF
LAW OF THE FIRST RANK. HE WAS A SCHOLAR OF LITERATURE, ENGLISH
AND AMERICAN. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE AND THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN CONCEPT WAS TRULY REMARKABLE.
APART FROM THESE AREAS OF SCHOLASTIC EXPERTISE IS THE FACT THAT
HE WAS THE BEST INFORMED PERSON I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED WITH
RESPECT TO THE LIFE, TIME AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF SIR WINSTON
CHURCHILL. JUSTICE WEBB, AS WAS TRUE OF ALL PERSONS WHO LIVED
THROUGH THE DAYS OF WORLD WAR H, WAS A GREAT ADMIRER OF SIR
WINSTON. JUSTICE WEBB’S SCHOLARLY RESEARCH INTO THE LIFE OF
THIS GREAT MAN WAS ASTOUNDING. HIS GRASP OF THE MAGNITUDE AND
SIGNIFICANCE OF CHURCHILL’S ACCOMPLISHMENS WAS SIMPLY
MAGNIFICENT!
THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY HAVE HAD ONLY A CASUAL ACQUAINTANCE
WITH THIS MAN NEED TO BE ADVISED THAT HE HAD A WONDERFUL
SENSE OF HUMOR. HE LOVED TO LAUGH. HIS COUSIN AND BOSOM PAL,
CHARLES FRANKLIN LAMBETH, JR., COULD REDUCE HIM TO PAROXYSMS
OF UNCONTROLLED LAUGHTER.
RISING TO A POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE, I RECOUNT AN ANECDOTE
WHICH ENABLED ME TO GET A CHUCKLE FROM JUSTICE WEBB WHENEVER
I SAW HIM AS LONG AS HE LIVED. ONE SUMMER WHEN WE WERE BOYS
CHARLES LAMBETH, JOHN WEBB AND I TOOK A PADDLE BOAT TRIP
DOWN THE LUMBEE (LUMBER) RIVER INTO THE LITTLE PEE DEE RIVER,
INTO THE GREAT PEE DEE (YADKIN IN NORTH CAOLINA) RIVER, INTO
WINYAH BAY AND ULTIMATELY INTO GEORGETOWN, SOUTH CAROLINA.
SINCE I WAS THE OLDEST, JOHN’S MOTHER CAUTIONED ME, ‘DON’T LET
JOHN GET WET. IF HE GETS WET HIS ASTHMA WILL START ACTING UP.’
WITH TONGUE IN CHEEK I ASSURED HER THAT WE WOULD KEEP JOHN
DRY. (WE HAD NO SHELTERS BEYOND COTTON BLANKETS.) DURING THE
FIRST NIGHT OF THE TRIP A ‘FROG STRANGLING’ RAIN FELL. I WAS THE
FIRST TO GET UP THE NEXT MORNING. JOHN WAS LYING ON HIS BACK IN
SPREAD EAGLE POSITION LYING IN THREE INCHES OF WATER WITH HIS
MOUTH WIDE OPEN AND RAIN WATER WASHING INTO HIS MOUTH AND
NOSTRILS. YET, HE SNORED ON UNTIL I AWAKENED FILM FOR RAT CHEESE
AND SARDINES (BREAKFAST). WE MADE IT TO GEORGETOWN IN NINE
DAYS OF SUCH WEATHER AND RATIONS.
FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE WHEN I SAW HIM I WOULD INQUIRE OF HIM,
`HOW IS YOUR ASTHMA?’ WITH A ROARING LAUGH HE WOULD RESPOND,
“JUST FINE. YOU CURED IT!’
AS LAWYERS ARE GIVEN TO SAY, ‘LET THE RECORD SHOW’ HOW MUCH I
LOVED AND LOVE JUSTICE WEBB AND HIS ENTIRE FAMILY.
HIS DEVOTED WIFE OF MANY YEARS, CAROLYN HARRIS WEBB,
PREDECEASED HIM. HE IS SURVIVED BY A SISTER, FLORA W. PLYLER AND
HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN. JUSTICE WEBB’S SURVIVING SON, WILL,
IS A LAWYER IN RALEIGH. HIS SURVIVING DAUGHTER IS CAROLINE
SMART AND HER FAMILY OF COLORADO. A BROTHER, ARCHIBALD WEBB,
AND HIS FAMILY OF FLORIDA ALSO SURVIVE.
ABOUT JUSTICE WEBB AND ALL OF THIS FAMILY IT CAN BE TRULY SAID
THAT ‘TO KNOW THEM IS TO LOVE THEM’.
IT IS MY GREAT HONOR TO HAVE BEEN ASKED TO MAKE THIS
PRESENTATION. NEVER HAVE I HAD A FRIEND MORE DEAR THAN JOHN
WEBB.
ROBERT L. MCMILLAN
JUNE I9 2009
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