Ebbert Webber

Ebbert True "Bert" Webber (22 October, 1921- 25 March, 2006) was an American research photojournalist, author, publisher.

Biography

Webber was the eldest son of Matthew Ebbert Webber and Mary Elizabeth True. Born October 22, 1921, at Edgewood Arsenel, Maryland, he lived briefly in St. Louis, Missouri, but the family migrated to San Francisco, California where they settled permanently.

He first entered business as a "San Francisco News Boy" hawking newspapers (at first) on street corners. He joined the school Journalism Club, and quickly found that he could "be where the action was" by acting as a reporter. It wasn't long before he discovered the photographic aspect of journalism. Together with a few carefully chosen words, he discovered the power of self-validating photographs, and stated later in life that:

:"Photo-journalists tell their story with pictures. A good photo-journalist NEVER requires a caption (or cut-line) to describe what's happening in his pictures." Fact|date=January 2007

Webber entered the U.S. Army just prior to World War II where he first trained as a fighter pilot, then as a photographer specializing in aerial reconnaissance.

After the war, he married Marjorie Jean Renfroe (born 1923) in Seattle, Washington, on July 9, 1944. The couple went on to have four children. Webber setup "Webber Photo Supply" shop in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. The original scope of the shop was to provide contract professional photography services throughout the region as well as a retail of both cameras, consumable photography supplies, negative developing and printing.

Among many others, contract photography topics included the ongoing Seattle City Light project to build a series of hydroelectric generating stations up the Skagit River, which flowed past Sedro-Wooley. He regularly drove up to New Halem, Washington, to the Gorge Dam and Diablo Dam - the site of one of his more memorable images of the " [http://www.rickspics.orgSkagit River Inclined Railway"] . From there it was another 4.5 miles upstream to the site of the nearly complete Ross Dam, where he took the next series of "Construction Progress" photos.

In 1955 the doors of "Webber Photo Supply" closed forever, and Webber went to work selling office equipment for Remington Rand in Seattle. He was transferred to Lewiston, Idaho.

Health problems seeded during his time in the Army forced a transfer to Spokane, Washington in 1960, where he could get appropriate care at a Veterans Administration hospital. Never having used his GI bill education benefits, the opportunity to formally study journalism at Whitworth College near Spokane arose and he took full advantage of it. He graduated in June, 1965 with a BS degree in Journalism. With this qualification a 40 year career in formal publication had begun.

Shortly after Webber earned a Masters Degree in Library Science (Research) from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, and began publishing articles about the Pacific Northwest. He taught Pacific Northwest History at Waluga Junior High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, then moved south to Medford, Oregon where he established "Webb Research Group - Publishers", and in its companion book distribution company "Pacific Northwest Books Company".

Bibliography

*"Silent Siege - Japanese Attacks on North America in World War II" (1984) (originally published as "Retaliation, Japanese Attacks and Allied Countermeasures on the Pacific coast in World War II")
*"Silent Siege II: Japanese Attacks on North America in World War II"
*"Silent Siege III: Japanese Attacks on North America in World War II : Ships Sunk, Air Raids, Bombs Dropped, Civilians Killed : Documentary"

External links

* [http://www.stumpranchonline.com/skagitjournal/S-W/Gen/WebberObit.html Obituary in the Skagit River Journal]
* [http://www.northwest-books.com Northwest Books]