Gerald McGruder Webb

Gerald (“Jerry”) McGruder Webb of Georgetown, Texas passed away on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital in Round Rock, Texas after a brief illness. He was 93. Jerry was born in Quanah, Texas on February 13, 1933, to Naomi Frances Baskett and Harvey McGruder “Mac” Webb of Eldorado, Oklahoma. At the time of Jerry’s birth, the nearest hospital was in Quanah, Texas.

For the first of his life, Jerry was raised near Los Angeles, California, where his parents had moved from Eldorado, Oklahoma as part of the exodus of Okies to California during the Great Depression. Then, when he was six years old, he and his mother moved to Cyril, Oklahoma to stay with her parents who lived there. Following graduation from Cyril High School in 1951, Jerry attended the University of Oklahoma obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and a lifelong Boomer Sooner. Jerry later obtained a master’s degree in education from USC in 1978.

Jerry had a distinguished military career as a pilot in the United States Air Force, serving actively from November 1955 to September 1979 and retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. Jerry completed his multi-engine pilot training at Goodfellow AFB, in San Angelo in January 1957. He proudly remembered that he was one of the last classes to fly the B-25 Mitchell. While stationed at Goodfellow, he went to Breckenridge to visit a friend where he was introduced to the newly arrived high-school teacher, Gale Hays of Ballinger, Texas. Five months later, they were wed. He began his flying career in SAC flying the KC-97 Stratofreighter in the 320th ARS at March AFB, near Riverside, CA. His wing transferred to Wright-Patterson AFB where he flew the new KC-135 Stratotanker which continues to be the main tanker in the USAF. Jerry transitioned to the Aeronautical Systems Division of the Air Force Systems Command at Wright-Patterson and flew many zero-gravity missions for astronauts-in-training in a C-135, known as the “Vomit Comet.”

During the Vietnam War, he was stationed in Bangkok, Thailand from January 1966 to January 1967. Jerry was an Air Operations Officer and flew in and out of Thailand to Vietnam and surrounding countries in the C-47, which he fondly remembered flying. From 1975 to 1978, Jerry served as a Staff Planner in the US Delegation to the NATO Military Committee at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

After retiring from the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Jerry worked as an aerospace logistics manager with LTV in Grand Prairie, TX for about four years, then in November 1983 took a position in the same field with GE/MATSCO at a facility in King of Prussia, PA. Gale joined him the following year, and they settled in the historic borough of West Chester, where they lived until 2002 when he retired from Lockheed Martin and they moved to an owner-built home in Berry Creek in Georgetown.

Related to his passion for flying, Jerry spent years restoring the stylish Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing (lower wing positioned further forward than the upper wing). He rebuilt much of this wooden plane and constructed parts of the four wings in the basement and bathtub of his family home in Oxon Hill, Maryland. He later sold the Staggerwing to John Bowden of Lampasas, Texas who completed the restoration and returned this classic airplane to the air. The plane is still operational today. Jerry later purchased a Luscombe 8 high wing monoplane (single wing mounted above the fuselage). His final private plane was the classic Beechcraft Bonanza Model 355 V-tail. He purchased this plane while living with Gale in West Chester, PA and flew it to Texas when they moved to Georgetown. He hangered the plane at Georgetown Municipal Airport where he took local day trips and overnight trips with family and friends. His brother-in-law Dr. James Hays of Brownwood, Texas had the pleasure of shooting many touch and goes with Jerry. Jerry sold the plane to John Fenoglio, a flying buddy of his at the Georgetown Airport. John still operates the Bonanza. Jerry was a long-standing member of the Quiet Birdmen (Ye Anciente and Secret Order of Quiet Birdmen), a fraternal order of airmen, and past member of the Order of Daedalians, Antique Airplane Association, The Staggerwing Club, and the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Jerry loved watching baseball, football and basketball. He took his son and daughter to see the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Senators when they were young, complete with their baseball gloves ready to catch a stray baseball. In his later years, he particularly enjoyed watching basketball on television with his grandson. Jerry and Gale enjoyed watching the Antiques Roadshow, news, and British mysteries, dramas, and comedies on PBS.

Jerry loved jazz music, particularly swing and big band, introducing his grandson at an early age to the greats like Louis Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” (most famously covered by the clarinetist Benny Goodman and the drummer Gene Krupa), Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Duke Ellington.

Jerry loved a good meal particularly when paired with a good glass of wine. A Saint Emillion red was a favorite! Also, he hardly missed a day without a gin martini.

Jerry is survived by his wife of 69 years (married on January 20, 1957), Mary Gale Hays Webb of Georgetown, Texas; his son Gerald Matthew Webb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; his daughter, Elizabeth Ann (“Liz Ann”) Cook of Dallas, Texas; and his grandson, Jordan Hays Cook of Austin, Texas. Also surviving Jerry are his sister, Kristin Webb of Danvers, Massachusetts and his half-brother, Harvey Webb (Carol) of Camarillo, California.

Military internment services will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 11:00 AM at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, 11463 TX-195, Killeen, Texas. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 11:00 AM at the First United Methodist Church, 410 East University Avenue, Georgetown, Texas and followed by a reception at the church.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Jerry’s honor (or “Memorial donations may be made”) to Austin PBS or to First United Methodist Church, Georgetown, Texas. To make a donation to Austin PBS, you can donate online at austinpbs.org/donate and then email us ([email protected]) that it was in memory of Gerald Webb. If the donor wants Austin PBS to notify the family that a donation was made in memory of Gerald Webb, please include that in their message. If they prefer to donate via check, they can mail their donation to the PO box below and include a note that it is in memory of Gerald. Address: Austin PBS, PO Box 143626, Austin, TX 78714. For a donation to the First United Methodist Church Georgetown visit their donation page at https://www.fumcgt.org/give.