Inez Webber

November 5, 1929 – April 10, 2025

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Inez B. Webber of Mesa, Arizona, was reunited in death with her loving husband on Thursday, April 10.  She was 95 years old.

 

Born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Fred and Louella Shimel on November 5, 1929, her life began one week after the start of the Great Depression.  The many hardships she faced in her early years significantly shaped her personality and her expectations of the world.  When only 12 years old, she lost her mother to cancer.  Shortly thereafter, she was forced to quit school to help raise the three youngest of her four siblings.  Many years later, at the age of 46, she completed her high school education and received her diploma.  It was one of her proudest accomplishments.

 

When she was 16 , she lied about her age on a job application so she could start working at the St. Regis bag plant in Toledo, Ohio.  A few months later, a man who worked in the Personnel office and had the funny name of Orbbie started asking her out.  She refused several times because she was afraid of losing her job when he discovered her true age.  At the prompting of her girlfriends, she finally agreed to go out with him on a Thursday night in August 1946.  Four days later, while on their third date, he proposed.  The two were married five months later on January 18, 1947.  They lived a happy life together for almost 60 years until Orbbie’s death in August 2006.  She was holding his hand when he passed.

 

Inez lived a very traditional life as housewife and mother.  She was the first one up every morning and the last one to bed at night.  Orbbie’s job took them to New York, New Hampshire, and Minnesota, but she never waivered.  On cold, winter mornings, she made sure her husband and four children ate warm breakfasts.  Dinner was on the table every night at 5:30, and the next morning lunches were packed for everyone.

 

She took pride in always having a clean house, and taught her children to help with the daily chores while they were still small.  She never allowed anyone to leave the house sloppily dressed, and would spend her Mondays doing laundry and ironing clothes while listening to records – usually Marty Robbins.  During the week, she’d shop for groceries, always with a stack of coupons in her hands.  Her family would tease her, saying the stores were paying her to take the goods out of the stores.  As a result of growing up during the Depression, she wouldn’t throw anything away until it was worn out.  (She recently had to get rid of a waste basket she’d purchased in 1975 with S&H Green Stamps.)

 

When their nest had been empty for a while, Inez and Orbbie began traveling, driving around the country to see their kids and going on cruises.  In 1990, they became full-time Arizona residents and spent many happy years together, playing cards with friends and spending time with neighbors.

 

As a devout Christian, Inez relied on her unwavering faith to help her through her darkest days.  When she was no longer able to attend Sunday services, she deeply valued receiving communion during visits from her ministers.

 

A sweet, witty woman, Inez never gave herself enough credit for how smart she was.  She loved to laugh with people and had a silly sense of humor.  Her happiest times were those spent with family, frequently playing cards or working on jigsaw puzzles.  In her later years, she loved being woken in the morning by her dog, Tillie.  She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

 

Inez is preceded in death by her husband Orbbie Keith ^I, her two oldest sons Orbbie Keith ^II, and Michael, her first-born baby Sandy, and her three brothers, Emery, James, and Harold Shimel.  She is survived by her youngest son Harold, her daughter Susan, three grandchildren, and her sister Grace.

 

Services will be held on April 16 at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Mesa.  Visitation will be at 10:00 A.M. with the funeral service starting at 11:00 A.M.  Burial will immediately follow at Mountain View Cemetery in Mesa.