Lucille H. Webb

Mrs. Lucille Holcombe Webb, 96, of Raleigh, NC departed this earthly life on Sunday August 25, 2024.  Funeral service 11:00 AM Wednesday September 4, 2024 at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, 813 Darby Street, Raleigh, NC 27610.  Visitation precedes the service at 10:30 AM.  The public viewing is scheduled from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM Tuesday September 3, 2024 at Haywood Funeral Home, 2415 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh, NC. 27603.  A Wake is scheduled following the public viewing from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM in the C A Haywood, Sr. Memorial Chapel.  Interment to follow the funeral at Carolina Biblical Gardens, 1530 Creech Road, Garner, NC 27529.

Dr. Webb, a pioneer of civil rights and a leader in education and public health, was the younger of two girls born to the late Lucille and Ellsworth Holcomb on October 20, 1927, in Richmond, VA and departed this earthly life on Sunday, August 25, 2024. She graduated from NC A&T University with a B.S. in Social Studies, married Dr. Harold Webb, who predeceased her, and adopted North Carolina as her home state. To that union, one daughter, Atty. Kaye Webb, was born. Dr. Webb earned her M.ED. in Social Studies from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Oneonta, NY, and her certification in administration and supervision from UNC at Chapel Hill.

In 1962, her family moved to Raleigh where she taught U.S. Government and History at J.W. Ligon High School and, once schools were desegregated, Sanderson High School. She was promoted to department chair, rose to personnel administrator with Raleigh City Schools and later, the Wake County Public School System. Dr. Webb was a founding member of Strengthening the Black Family, Inc.in 1981 and president of its board of directors where she devoted countless hours to helping others.

After retiring from public education in 1984, she extended her expertise as a community advocate to programs affecting all levels from local to national in scope. The Kellogg Foundation tapped her to lead their community-based initiatives addressing inequities in the health of the nation’s ethnic minorities. Dr. Webb was a member and served on the Wake County YWCA board of directors. She is heralded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as an expert in community-based participatory research, and for building support for programs addressing chronic health challenges impacting communities of color.

A wide range of organizations benefitted from Dr. Webb’s boundless energy and leadership skills as she volunteered her services as a Girl Scout troop leader, president of the Wake County Unit of NC Retired School Personnel, past president and member of the Raleigh Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; the Raleigh Chapter of Chums, Inc.; The Links, Incorporated Raleigh (NC) Chapter, and the Raleigh Chapter of the Holidays, Inc. In 2006, the annual Lucille Webb Award was established by the National Community- Based Organization Network (NCBON) of the Community-Based Public Health (CBPH) Caucus of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

She received numerous awards including induction into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Volunteerism, the Althea T. Simmons Social Action Memorial Award, the Rosa Parks Tradition Award, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s Woman of the Year Award, the Civil Rights Delta Legacy “Women Making a Difference” Award, the Comin’ Home Celebration Award, Project Direct Leadership and Service Award, Poe Center for Health Education and President’s Awards, and the Pan Hellenic Council Community Recognition Award. She and Harold were inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2023, she was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters from UNC-CH and the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

Dr. Webb was also an active member of the Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition of Wake County; the Steering Committee of Project Awareness, a community-based mammography screening and education program; North Carolina Health Planning Commission Advisory Committee on Special Populations; the North Carolina Foundation for Alternative Health Programs, Inc.; the Governor’s 2010 Healthy Carolinians Task Force; the National Association of County & City Health Officials APEXCPH Work Group; North Carolina DHHS Institutional Review Board (IRB); member of ENCORE, North Carolina State University's Program for Life Long Learning; a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International; and a member of the Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church where she worked as a Sunday School teacher and served on the Altar Guild.

Dr. Webb leaves a legacy of love to her daughter, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. In lieu of flowers, you may make an online donation to one of Dr. Webb’s dearest institutions; North Carlina A& T State University at www.ncat.edu/givenow, select the College of Education as the designation, and note that the gift is in memory of Dr. Lucille Webb or mail a check in her memory to St. Ambrose Episcopal Church.

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