Then & Now

By Bryant Boutwell, Dr.P.H.

Today’s medical student crosses Webber Plaza between the Medical School Building and Jesse Jones Library dozens of times a week with little idea of how the plaza got its name. If one looks closely, a single plaque titled, “A Eulogy to Dr. C. Frank Webber” holds a clue. Written by former surgery chair Dr. Frank Moody, the words within reveal the loyal and heartfelt sentiments of the entire Medical School community upon learning Dec. 12, 1985, that their popular dean had collapsed at home and died at age 51 of heart-related disease. Dr. Webber, a diabetic, had been dean for just five months and a shockwave of sadness engulfed the young Medical School (then a teen of 15 years).

Dr. Webber had served as chair of the Medical School’s Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine (1975-1984) as well as assistant dean for community affairs from 1982-1984. As the youngest president of the Harris County Medical Society at the time he became dean (July 1985 to December 1985), Dr. Webber was well known, well respected, and a tremendous loss to our entire medical community.

Today’s Webber Plaza is now undergoing a major redesign and makeover thanks to flood recovery funding and the need to mitigate future flood damage. As bulldozers cut the landscape to improve drainage in the area, we can be assured that landscaping has been planned (see drawing) to restore the plaza to a new, improved state. While we can change the look of Webber Plaza, it will always be a special place with a special memory of a fallen dean whose commitment then makes now possible. In Dr. Moody’s words, “…Rest in peace, your work is done, and ours has just begun to bid your will. We commit our being to pursue the course you have set for us. Farewell.”