Patricia Raye "Pat" Webb

Patricia Raye Webb, age 96, passed away peacefully on July 17, 2025 while at home and with her four children at her side.

Born on May 11, 1929 to Eldon and Eva Allen, Pat was the third of three sisters. The family lived on a farm near Ackworth, Iowa, a town just east of Indianola. Pat graduated from Indianola High School at age 16 and then enrolled at Simpson College. While at Simpson, she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority and lived for a time in the sorority house that still stands and is in use to this day. In 2024, the sorority honored her longevity with a diamond pin commemorating her 75 years of membership.

Upon graduation in 1949, she set out with her bachelor's degree and her first car (a convertible) in search of employment. Her first teaching job was in Greenfield, Iowa where she taught PE to the junior high and high schoolers of the town. In her spare time, she took flying lessons and learned how to pilot a Stearman 2-seat BiPlane; she never became a licensed pilot because she never flew solo. She just wanted to learn how to do it and then moved on to other things. However, she remained interested in aviation and the people that flew those planes for the rest of her life.

Her father was a pilot; she dated pilots; and at her second job as the PE teacher at Atlantic, Iowa she met a former World War II pilot that also taught school, coached football and basketball and was a former Iowa Amateur golf champion. Pat married Jack Webb on November 28, 1953 and they rented a house in Atlantic during the school year while spending most of their first summers in Spirit Lake with Jack's parents on East Okoboji.

Pat gave birth to John in the fall of 1954. She traveled to West Des Moines a few weeks before the birth to stay with her sister Barbara and her family because, well, it was football season and Jack was coaching at the high school in Atlantic. The birth was announced at half time of an Atlantic home game. When son Jerry followed in the summer of 1956, Pat repeated the travel arrangements to West Des Moines because, well, it was golf season and Jack was playing in the Waterloo Open. The new larger family moved to a slightly larger rental in Atlantic, and then had a house built in 1959 as Jack became the head basketball coach and Pat gave swimming lessons at the Atlantic Country Club swimming pool.

Two major events happened to Pat's family in 1960. The most significant was the birth of daughter Lynn in the spring of that year. That was, obviously, during basketball season but Lynn became the first family member to not have to leave town in order to be born. Her birthplace was the Atlantic hospital, possibly because by this time Pat's sister Barbara had moved to Sioux Falls and there was no room at the "inn".

The second significant event was Jack's victory in the Iowa State Amateur golf tournament during the summer of 1960. Jack felt that he could better fend for his family if he became a golf professional and left high school teaching (and its meager salaries) behind. Pat and Jack moved their family to Fargo, North Dakota where Jack took over as golf professional at the public course in town and Pat resumed teaching as a substitute teacher in the Fargo school system. One notable semester, Pat became the substitute PE teacher at Washington Elementary school; that meant that she was the PE teacher for both her young sons. The two boys could no longer treat "gym class" as an hour to "goof off"; no getting away with bad behavior when your mother is the substitute teacher.

When Jack became the head professional at Fargo Country Club, he and Pat had a house built on the south side of town. All three kids were now school age, and Pat would often take her family on trips, excursions or outright vacations. One memorable trip was with her sister Barbara and Barbara's family: Two sisters and seven kids spending five days in the Black Hills…in one rental cabin.

The family dynamic was changed again in early 1967 with the arrival of son Jim. For the sake of consistency, we'll say his arrival coincided with bowling season. With four kids and a couple of pets, the new southside house was getting a little crowded. Later in that year, Jack heard of an opportunity back in Iowa; he accepted the golf professional's job at Wakonda Club in Des Moines. For the fifth time in 9 years Jack and Pat moved the family.

The home that they chose in Des Moines would be Pat's home for the rest of her life. She had a large yard and a little more storage space than she had ever had before; she began collecting knick-knacks and antiques that fascinated her. Pat always had a love for animals, particularly horses (as in Kentucky Derby participants) and dogs (as in domestic pets treated as family members). She was an excellent gardener, picking up that trait from her mother and her aunt Grace. She passed that trait on to two of her four children and son Jerry and daughter Lynn turned Pat's yard into a beautiful garden during the last nine years of her life. She also returned to substitute teaching with the Des Moines Public school system, filling in where she was needed until she was in her seventies.

As each child left the nest, Pat was able to fill newly available space with art pieces, antiques and collectibles that she delighted in finding. She was not a hoarder, but some of her acquisitions did bring amused grins to (most of) her family members. Her many garage sales always brought in a little money, but as soon as one sale was complete, she would go about gathering "stock" for the next driveway event.

One thing that all her kids (and her spouse) knew was that Pat did not like being told what she should do…about anything. Each family member can cite several different examples of this, but the greatest recent illustration was the fact that she stayed in her house, alone and self-sufficient, for nine years after Jack passed away in 2016. That house was where she wanted to be, no matter what anyone else thought.

Pat is survived by her four children: John (Barb) Webb, Jerry (Kim) Webb, Lynn (Jeff) Truninger and Jim (Jody) Webb. Her nine grandchildren and honorary pallbearers are Holly Wynveen (Josh), J P Webb (Baylee), Jeffrey Webb (Elena), Tony Webb, Tricia DuToit (Mike), Tim Truninger (Jessi), Sydney Webb, Ryan Webb and Jackson Webb. There are eleven great grandchildren. Pat is also survived by sister-in-law Lois Webb (Don) and many nieces and nephews. Pat was preceded in death by her parents, Eldon and Eva Allen, her husband of 62 years Jack Webb, her aunt Grace Lawrence Wood, her sisters Barbara Coppock (Bill) and Betty McBroom, and sister-in-law Mary Challas (Jim).

Visitation will be held Friday, August 1 at Dunn's Funeral Chapel, 2121 Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa, beginning at 9:00 AM for family, 10:00 AM for friends and associates. Services will follow at 11:00 AM, also at Dunn's Chapel. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Ackworth Friends Church, P.O. Box 488, Indianola Iowa 50125. Interment will be at McLarens Resthaven Mausoleum in West Des Moines, family members only, after the service.

Patricia's service will be live streamed on the Iles website. Go to www.ilescares.com just before 11:00am Friday, August 1, 2025 and scroll to the bottom of her obituary for the link to join the service.