James Perry Webb (Jim) 75, of Bakersville departed this world while doing one of the things he loved most, flying his plane.
Born in Bakersville, Jim, along with his brother Sandy and parents Sanford and Norma Greene Webb, lived in many places during his childhood including New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Chocowinity, and Wilmington, to name a few. He came back to Bakersville and graduated from Bowman High School in 1968 and Appalachian State University in 1973 during which time he spent 9 months in India with his parents.
In 1971, while cruising downtown Bakersville on a Saturday night, he spotted a Dodge van (The Beaver Buggy) that was perfect to haul his motorcycle. The van belonged to Sharon Lynn Beaver. In the ensuing years, they married, started a family, and moved to eastern North Carolina, without the van.
In 1978, the opportunity arose to return to Bakersville to raise their children, Heather and Gavan in the mountains of western North Carolina. Jim started a small engine repair business in his back yard which eventually became CMS Hardware and later ACE Hardware with his brother Sandy. In 2009, after selling the business, he began his retirement, which can more accurately be described as a series of adventures. Activities with his beloved grandchildren (both biological and the many others he recruited along the way), aviation, snow skiing, water skiing, snow boarding, carpentry, remodeling, managing properties, repairing small engines, volunteering with his church and the Rhododendron Festival, traveling to and from his second home in Topsail Island, digging clams, shucking oysters, riding his bicycle through downtown Bakersville with two year old Perry on the back singing at the top of her lungs, frightening all the trick-or-treaters in town on Halloween while totally incognito, drinking coffee at Young’s Fuel with his cronies, and generally living life to its fullest, with no regrets.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents and brother. He is survived by his wife Sharon, daughter Heather (her children Perry and Roan), son Gavan (his wife Crystal and their son Nate), his nieces and nephew, their children, and many extended family and honorary grandchildren to whom he was affectionately known as “Poppo”.
