LONGTIME JACKSON FOOTBALL COACH PAUL WEBBER JR. DIES

JACKSON -- Funeral for Paul Webber Jr. of St. Louis, former teacher and coach at Jackson High School, will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Church of Christ in Jackson. Brian Magnuson will officiate, with burial in Russell Heights Cemetery.

Friends may call at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson from 4-8 p.m. today, and after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the church.

Webber, 53, died Sunday, Oct. 11, 1998, at Christian Northeast Hospital in St. Louis.

He was born Nov. 19, 1944, at Poplar Bluff, son of Paul A. and Dathel Boyd Webber Sr. He and Jennifer Cope were married Nov. 27, 1965, in Poplar Bluff.

Webber began his teaching and coaching career in Greenville, Ill. He was a teacher and coach at Jackson High School 20 years before becoming head football coach and athletic director at Poplar Bluff High School in 1989.

He left Poplar Bluff in 1994 and had been assistant principal at Hazelwood School District since that time.

Webber was a lifelong member of the Church of Christ. He served as elder in the Jackson and Poplar Bluff churches, and was a deacon at McKnight Road Church of Christ in St. Louis.

Survivors include his wife; four sons, John Webber of Memphis, Tenn., Keith Webber of Dallas, Texas, David Webber of Columbia, Billy Webber of St. Louis; a daughter, Julie Rush of Jackson; his parents of Harviell; two sisters, Gail Webber of Mountain View, Ann Miller of Wappapello; and three grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by an infant brother.