Patti and Elwood "Buster" Webb celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary on June 24, 2016 with a gathering of family and friends at Papa Joe's, a popular local restaurant. The couple met as sophomores in Hernando High School in October of 1952. Patti and Buster said they were extremely pleased with the hard work their daughters did to put the event together. They were also happy to see good friends they hadn't seen for years.
Together they always supported each other and always worked hard to achieve their goals. Together they built a life full of love and happiness.
Patti moved up from St. Petersburg with her sister to live with her grandparents in Spring Lake. Her mother was ailing and couldn't care for the girls. Patti is related to the Mountain family that settled here in Hernando County.
She came to Hernando High School in her sophomore year. Buster's parents operated the Gulf gas station off of 41 and Crystal River Road. Patti explained that the Webb family was so generous while they operated the store and that generosity and kindness was apparent in the young man she met in homeroom.
"Everyone knew and heard about the Webbs and how gracious they were with the community," Patti explained. People would come there and knew they could buy what they needed even if they didn't have the money to pay at that time. There were also some that took advantage and the Webbs.
"But most of the people were country people and very good about paying back, maybe it took them a month… That's unheard of nowadays, you don't do that," said Patti.
"When they'd get paid, 99% of them would come in (and pay their bill). It was just a little community store. If we took care of them, they would take care of us," stated Buster Webb.
They were such an asset to the community, The Webb family," she emphasized. The Webb's closed the station in 1975.
"And I married this guy. I was in school and …. I remember being in homeroom, this guy sitting there, he was just so friendly and outgoing. I told my sister, I said, 'I like this guy here, I like him,' because I never saw another fellow that I liked. Buster was so warm and friendly and outgoing, just very courteous," Patti explained.
In 1954, after graduation, the sisters went back to St. Pete to help take care of their mother. Buster went to St. Pete to go to Junior College and they were married two years later. The couple made St. Pete their home for 36 years where they raised their two daughters, Theresa Lynn and Mary Anne.
"We've been very blessed with our daughters. When Mary Anne came along, Theresa Lynn was like a mother to Mary Anne. I never heard a cross word between these two girls. Theresa just loved Mary Anne to pieces and Mary Anne grew old enough to show her love back. "
Theresa Lynn followed in her father's footsteps to pursue a career with Publix. Mary Anne who is 8 years younger to the day, teaches graphic arts at Challenger. They have four grandchildren and a great granddaughter, "Miss Rose" who is two and a half years old. 
While in school in St. Pete, Buster took a part time job with Publix bagging and stocking. Then he had an opportunity to go full time as the produce manager. Eventually he worked up to the store manager position which he held for 16 years.
The School Bus Arrangement
Patti and her sister rode the school bus in everyday to Hernando High School. Patti explained that Buster had a model A which he was known for at Hernando High School.
"Grandaddy was strict," said Buster. "He noticed that I was bringing Patti home sometimes (in the model A). I went out there to visit one Sunday and he says 'Buster, I need to talk to you.' He says, 'Let's go on the porch.' So we went out there and he says, 'I'm living in Hernando County now and I pay taxes in Hernando County.' And he says, 'Part of my taxes go to the school system.' And he says, 'Part of the school system is the school bus.' And he says, 'When I pay taxes in the school system, for the school bus, I wanna see my granddaughter on the school bus.' I said, 'Okay, I don't have a problem with that at all.' So we figured out what we would do is that we would either follow the bus until the bus stop before the house or either beat the bus there and wait for the bus to get there, she would get on the bus and she got off at the house. And that was fine with Granddaddy and Grandmama thought it was hilarious. And the school bus driver thought it was so funny."
"I bought that model A in October of 1952 and I met her within a month after I bought it and I still have it," explained Buster.
He restored it in January of 2004 and they still ride around in it. It stayed locked up at his mother and father's place for 38 years from 1968 to 2003.
Mother and Father's Place
Mother and Father's place was the Webb's Gulf Service Station, where Old Crystal River Road runs into Highway 41. Mother and Father were Elwood Webb Sr. and Mary Ida Webb, Buster Webb's parents.
Today what's left of the station is owned by the mobile home park behind it who purchased it 3 years ago.
Buster moved there at the age of 3 and was raised there.
"Daddy was working with Gulf Oil Distributor and that was a Gulf Station. It became vacant. It was built in 1930. And it was either '39 or '40 when we moved out there. And it was just a community store. [Highway] 41 at that time was the only main artery north or south. If there was a 301, it was a dirt road. There was no 19. There was certainly no 75… We got a lot of tourists coming in there to that little station. And one thing I can remember, Of course growing up I played in the back yard a lot. We had chickens, coop, had a couple of hogs for FFA projects. But one of the things I can remember traffic wise is that during the war, Kraft food company, their main distributor for the southeast is in Atlanta. But they had a distribution place in Tampa. And I don't know how it got started, but they started stopping at the station on the way back from Tampa and they'd fill those 50 gallon tanks up on each side of that truck. It got to be an every week thing. We got to know the guys real well. The station part in the front was for the display area and the kitchen was right through the door. And it got to the point where they'd come in go sit back in the kitchen and have coffee. We got to be a family. In fact one weekend, I went up with one of the drivers and came back with another one the next week. That's how friendly we got. You wouldn't do that nowadays."
It was basically a community store, that served Lake Lindsey and the surrounding area. They carried bread, milk, soft drinks, snacks and some canned goods. Much of the responsibility fell on Buster's mom to keep up the store.
"Daddy had to go into service so mother took care of the station and was raising the kids." Buster's grandmother had a stroke and his mother had to care for her as well. After about a year of service, his father returned working in the station and worked part time on the crash trucks at Brooksville air field.
"So mother was still operating the store, " explained Buster. "When I got big enough I serviced the cars when they came in. Pumped the gas for the customers, checked their oil, washed their windshield, and checked the air in the tires. You didn't ask, that was part of the service."
Through thick and thin
Buster is the oldest of three children. His parents worked to put his younger siblings through college. His brother Eddie and sister Maryleen both graduated from Florida State. Maryleen went on to become an artist and studied overseas for a period of time. Eddie went to the University of Tennessee and was studying to become an optometrist when he fell ill at the age of 23. The doctors were treating him for the flu and he passed away overnight. Eddie was planning on going into practice with Dr. Coppedge who practices in Brooksville. 
A Big Oak Tree
Today, the Webbs live on a 20 acre piece of property which is full of family history. The property was once part of a 200 acre tract owned by Buster's Great Grandaddy, Eugene Studemeyer. Originally from Alabama, his great grandfather moved to the area when Buster's mother was seven years old. The family settled on top of the hill on North Ave. Buster thinks that his Great Grandfather Studemayer purchased the 200 acre tract off of Croom Road in the early teens. His great grandfather operated an orange grove on a majority of the property.
Buster helped his Grandfather Hardy maintain the grove when he was in high school since all of the Hardy men were in the service. "So I'd come over after school and help grandaddy with the grove, disc it or mow, whatever needed to be done. I was old enough to operate the tractor. So I got a lot of memories in this property," said Buster.
The grove froze out during the freezes of 1983 and 1985. They replanted 40 acres back on top of the hill. At the time, Buster's Uncle Roy was in charge of the estate and kept the grove going. Since it is a family estate, the entire family would come out to pick oranges when they were ready to harvest. 
Eventually, the trees got too high to pick without ladders and the expenses were too great to keep the grove producing so they decided to break the property up into 10 acre lots to sell.
Buster told his Uncle Roy, "I'd like to have some of that property." Buster was able to purchase two 10 acre lots in 1999.
A giant oak sits atop the highest point of the original 200 acre tract. Buster believes it to be the largest oak in the county.
The family spent many days picnicking beneath the great oak. "That's what we did years and years ago," explained Patti. Everyone would bring a dish and we'd just all sit under the oak tree and eat our lunch."
So we wanted to be out in the country and we just love it… It's just peaceful and quiet… It's like heaven to me," she said.
The oak now overlooks their home, which they finished building in 2009. Their home is a gathering place for relatives and friends coming from the fast paced city life.