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.
As a young child, Jerry was raised near Los Angeles, California, where his parents had moved from Eldorado, Oklahoma. Then, when he was six years old, he and his mother moved to Cyril, Oklahoma to stay with her parents. Following graduation from Cyril High School in 1951, Jerry attended the University of Oklahoma obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1955. 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 affectionately 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. 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. He was stationed at the Pentagon and then Andrews AFB from 1967 to 1972 and then again to Wright-Patterson until 1975. From 1975 to 1978, Jerry served in the US Delegation to the Military Committee at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, a treasured assignment.
After retiring from the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Jerry first worked as an aerospace logistics manager with LTV in Grand Prairie, TX, then in 1983 took a position in the same field with GE/MATSCO in King of Prussia, PA, and he and Gale settled in the historic borough of West Chester, where they lived until 2002 when he retired from Lockheed Martin, and they moved to Berry Creek in Georgetown.
Related to his passion for flying, Jerry spent years restoring the stylish Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing. 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 a Texan who completed the restoration and returned this classic airplane to the air. His final private plane was the classic Beechcraft Bonanza Model 355 V-tail. After retiring to Texas, he hangered the plane at Georgetown Municipal Airport where he took local day trips and overnight trips with family and friends. 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, 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 and playing bridge. 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, animal documentaries, news, and British mysteries, dramas, and comedies on PBS.
He 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”, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Duke Ellington.
He loved a good meal particularly when paired with a good glass of wine. A Saint-Émilion 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 daughter, Elizabeth Ann (“Liz Ann”) Cook of Dallas, Texas; his son Gerald Matthew Webb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 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 11AM at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, 11463 SH 195, Killeen, Texas. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 11AM at the First United Methodist Church, 410 East University Avenue, Georgetown, Texas with a reception following.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Jerry’s memory, to Austin PBS, to the First United Methodist Church, Georgetown, Texas or to the Wounded Warrior Project.
A longer obituary is viewable at https://neptunesociety.com/obituaries/austin-tx/gerald-webb-12887308