09/07/1995

Webster Retires from Tennessee Valley Substation

BELLE MINA, Ala. - After more than 30 years of playing many different roles as superintendent of the Tennessee Valley Substation in Belle Mina, W.B. "Dub" Webster is now taking a little time off to just play.

Webster retired Sept. 1 as superintendent, a job that required him to be everything from farmer to educator to ambassador to administrator. The substation is an outlying research unit of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) at Auburn University and is one of 15 such units where AU scientists perform on-farm studies. Research at Tennessee Valley's 760-acre farm focuses on beef cattle, row crops, irrigation systems and many other agricultural enterprises.

Managing the research station requires not only agricultural expertise, but also the ability to handle budgets, personnel, and work with the public. For Webster, it also was an opportunity to represent Auburn University while helping Alabama's farmers and consumers. "It was the best job I could ever have had with my educational background," he said.

Webster's interest in agriculture began in childhood. He and his seven brothers and sisters grew up on a row crop and timber farm in Winfield and he not only worked on the farm but was involved in 4-H and FFA projects, such as showing registered Jersey cattle, as a youth. He also learned a lot about hard work and commitment.

"We grew up rough, I guess, and we didn't have anything, but my parents always told us that we were all going to college some way or another. Among the eight of us, there are seven college graduates and a registered nurse," he said.

Webster earned his degree in agricultural science in 1956 from Auburn, then went into the service for two years. While in service, he met and married his wife, Jo. When he was discharged from service, his first job was as assistant superintendent at the Tennessee Valley Substation.

After spending a year in that position, Webster decided to go back to graduate school at Auburn. Before he had completed the degree, however, he accepted a position as a county Extension Service agent in Cullman County, then returned to the Substation in 1965 when John Boseck, then superintendent, asked him to return. He earned his master's of agriculture degree from Auburn in 1967 and became superintendent at the Substation in 1977 when Boseck retired.

For most of his years at the Substation, Webster actually lived on the farm, rearing his four children there. Two of his sons pursued careers in agriculture. Bill is an entomologist who works as a cotton consultant in North Alabama and Eric just completed his Ph.D. in weed science at Mississippi State University. Another son, Vince, works with Dunlop Tire in Madison and Webster's daughter, Shannon Garrison, teaches school at East Limestone Elementary School.

While Webster admits that living on the farm made getting to work convenient, that location made it hard for him to leave work. "I moved off the station seven years ago, and that was the first time that I could go home and get away from the job. People were always coming to my back door at night or on weekends, but I didn't mind. If people needed to know something then it didn't matter when it was," he said.

Through the years at the Substation, Webster has seen the emphasis of their research change to meet the needs of the agricultural community. Beef cattle research there once focused on cool season grazing crops for growing out beef steers. These days the focus is on managing steers and cows on fescue infected with an endophyte fungus. Though soybeans are no longer a major crop in the area, Webster said a great deal of work has been done at the Substation during his tenure on soybean variety development, which continues to benefit Alabama farmers.

The primary focus of research at the Substation has been on cotton, and for good reason. Webster said that 50-60 percent of the state's cotton crop is grown in a five-county area around Limestone County. About half of the 70 to 80 research projects conducted each year at the Substation involve cotton research.

Webster has loved the research side of his work, but he also has enjoyed the human factor and he regarded his position at Belle Mina as one of ambassador for Auburn University as well as research manager. "My favorite thing about being superintendent was dealing with people - the local farmers and residents, my administrators, the graduate students and faculty," he said. "When I see former graduate students come back here as faculty members, I feel like I had a hand in their education," he continued.

"When people have come to the Substation, I have always tried to present Auburn in the best way that I could. Over the years I think I created an atmosphere on the station that made project leaders (AU faculty) feel comfortable coming to the station to do their research and also made farmers and people in the community feel comfortable coming there to see what we were doing. That atmosphere was already created by the previous superintendents and I think we have carried that on," he added.

For those who follow him at the station, Webster is sure they will find the work equally rewarding. And as for his future, Webster to travel with his wife and will finally get to do some fishing. However, he will not be leaving agriculture behind and already is involved in a Chamber of Commerce project that will highlight the contributions of agriculture and agribusiness in the region.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Katie Jackson, 334-844-5886 or smithcl@auburn.edu

September 7, 1995