Wendell Sherwood Webster

Wendell Webster was died peacefully in his sleep August 17 of heart failure. He was born 100 years ago last March on a farm outside of Roxbury, Kansas to Daniel and Lillian Webster. Coming to age during the Great Depression, Wendell attended the CCC camp in Minnesota, and worked many jobs, ending at the Grand Coulee Dam project in Washington State in 1940. From there, he was among the first group of young men to be drafted prior to the U.S. entry to WWII. He was posted to Ft. Lewis, Washington. During maneuvers to northern California, Wendell met Dorothy G. Karley of Yuba City. They were married at Ft. Lewis June 18, 1942, and lived in the Olympia area. Later, Wendell was shipped overseas and served in New Guinea, the Philippine Islands and Japan, advancing to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Towards the end of the war, he worked as an Intelligence Officer, reverse engineering captured Japanese equipment. Following the cessation of hostilities, Wendell returned to California and settled with Dorothy and their growing family in Yuba City. Later, he became an insurance adjuster and was transferred Sacramento in 1953. He retired in 1978 as a senior adjuster. Wendell enjoyed hunting and fishing, often combining these activities with family camping trips. The family also enjoyed backyard barbeques and water skiing on Folsom Lake. Wendell and Dorothy enjoyed trips to many foreign countries and to every state in the Union during their retirement. He joined the Tehema Lodge #3, F&AM, in the early sixties. In addition to becoming a fifty-year member of that lodge, Wendell was a recipient of the Hiram Award. He was also active until shortly before his death in the Bicentennial Daylight Lodge No. 830, in the Arden-Arcade area. Wendell is survived by Dorothy, his wife of 74 years, daughter Barbara Porter and grandson Darin Porter, all of Sacramento, and daughter Wendy, of Tucson, Arizona, as well as brothers Ronald of Woodland, California, and Warren of Lindsborg, Kansas. Services will be held at the Sierra View Funeral Chapel in Carmichael on Thursday, September 1 at 1:00 p.m. The family requests donations be made to the Shriners Hospitals for Children in lieu of flowers.

Wendell Sherwood Webster

March 25, 1916 - August 17, 2016