(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright upbeat music) - Will you consider this?

This is Becky Webber and this is going to be the longest she's seated today because the devil knows when her feet hit the ground, every morning, he's, "Oh boy, she's awake."

So Becky Webber, welcome.

- Thank you.

- You're not from the Peoria area originally, so tell me a little bit about your background.

- Well, I was born and raised in Calhoun County, which is- - The best peaches.

- Best peaches in the world.

And it's in between Springfield and St.

Louis and had the Illinois River on the east side and the Mississippi River on the west side and a big bluff right in the middle.

- And that's where you were.

- And that's where I was.

- Good for you.

And then you came to Peoria, Peoria area, and because of Mike, your husband's, job?

- Yes.

Yes.

He worked for Country Financial for 41 years and he had moved us up to Germantown Hills.

And so we've been there since 1988.

- Okay.

And you're quite the couple.

We're gonna start with you for starters now.

So you play an instrument.

- Yes.

- And you have played this instrument since you were 10 years old.

So tell me about it, it is a trumpet, a bugle.

- My trumpet.

- Yeah.

- When I was in fifth grade, I came home all excited and told my mom and dad that I wanted to take band.

And my dad said, "Go right ahead, but you have to learn how to play the bugle, because my Legion Post needs a bugler for our military funerals."

And I'm like, "Okay."

- Okay.

- Not knowing what it was gonna lead to, but I learned to play "Taps" in sixth grade and my very first funeral I sounded "Taps" was at my great uncle Steve's.

And it was in January and it was so cold that my grandma, who was Uncle Steve's sister, wrapped me in one of her quilts while I crouched behind the tombstone, a different tombstone, to get in and out of the wind.

- Oh my gosh.

- So that was my first experience of sounding "Taps."

- So you have no idea, you haven't kept a record of how many ceremonies you've played at.

How are you informed about it?

How are you hired to do the job, so to speak?

- Well, when I lived in Calhoun, I always sounded "Taps" for my dad's Legion Post.

And then when I moved up here, then I contacted the Metamora Legion Post and was only just playing for funerals for them.

And then I would drive back to Calhoun and play for my friends' parents or relatives or whatever.

And then at one of the funerals I was sounding "Taps" at for the Metamora Legion Post, there was a gentleman there that belonged to Bugles Across America.

And he said, "Becky, why don't you belong to Bugles Across America?"

- Did you even know about it?

- I did know about it and I looked into it and then my mom got sick.

- Oh.

- So whenever I would have to go down to help with my mom, it was three and a half hours down and three and a half hours back.

And I had four kids in school and I just didn't have the extra time.

- At that point.

- At that point.

And so when we knew that mom was getting to the end of her life, this was right after that gentleman told me that.

- Uh huh.

- And so I thought, "You know what?

I know that eventually I'm not gonna be going out."

So I contacted them and I auditioned.

And so I get numerous bugle requests every week and it's within I think 120 mile radius.

- That was my next question.

- Yes.

Yeah.

And sometimes I can take the ones further away and sometimes I can't.

And now that my husband is retired, he likes to drive me.

And so when I know that we have the time, I will take some that are further away and he goes with me and then we make a date day out of it.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And now that I have done it so much, number one, I'm part of the Tazewell Military Rites team.

And secondly, a lot of the funeral directors know me now.

And so they have my name and number and when families specifically request for a live bugler, they will give me a call.

- And this is families of veterans?

- Of veterans, of the deceased veterans, yes.

- That's pretty amazing.

And who knew when you were 10 years old- - No.

- That it would blossom into something like this?

- And there's a lot of months that I sound "Taps" every week, sometimes, well, most of the time, multiple times a week.

- Mm-hmm.

And in all sorts of weather.

- Yes, I have all the gear.

I have my gear bag that I put in.

I was telling you about when it was minus 20 windchill and one of my valves froze and thankfully I didn't have to use that valve to sound "Taps."

It was miserably cold.

- I bet.

- But the families, they are so appreciative of the Tazewell Military Rites team, the military, and myself coming for their veteran.

- Right.

- And I- - Does it give you goosebumps?

- Oh, I love it.

- Every time.

- I mean, if I had to choose any volunteer job that is my passion, it is sounding "Taps."

I absolutely love it.

- Well, so then in your spare time, which doesn't really exist much, you were also very involved with the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

- Yes.

- The only person that I know that ever was involved with that is you.

And so tell us a little bit about GFWC.

- GFWC.

GFWC is an international women's volunteer organization and our motto is unity and diversity.

And we have a lot of diversity in the programs, the projects that we do.

And our mission statement is enhancing the lives of others through our volunteer service.

And I have belonged to the General Federation for 38 years.

I joined the Metamora Germantown Hills Junior Women's Club.

And then my friend Donna and I, after our kids got out of school, we decided that we would start another club for women like us that were kind of wanting to just slow down a little bit, but not totally stop.

- Right, be active.

- And so that is the GFWC Illinois Junior Women's Encore Club.

And to join that, you have to have been a member of a GFWC club.

- All right.

- And my latest adventure with GFWC is six years ago, I joined the Peoria Women's Club here in Peoria, and we have that beautiful clubhouse.

- It is beautiful.

- It is.

- And getting a lot of extra attention these days.

- Well, it is, it is.

And we are doing a huge renovation because we have that beautiful theater on the second floor that has not been used since the '70s.

And if anyone is interested in that, please go to the website and look for Peoria Women's Club.

But yet I am really involved in getting our members into the community service arena and doing a lot of community service projects.

- Locally.

- Locally.

And one of our biggest projects, which was started before I joined the club, is the Woodruff School, the culinary arts program.

And we have a lunch and in the last six years, we have raised almost $40,000 for the Woodruff Culinary Arts- - Really?

- Yeah.

- Good for you.

- And we're starting to really work with the Ronald McDonald House.

And we've got a whole list of things, so you can go to our website to see what we're doing.

- Well, and then, so, but back to before the Peoria Women's Club, when it was just GFWC, you were also kind of in the upper echelon and you were helping take care of headquarters in Washington DC.

- Yes, yes.

Our GFWC International headquarters is located in Washington DC in the Dupont Circle area.

And we have state federations in all 50 states.

And I don't have the exact number in my head, but I do believe we have clubs definitely in 12 countries.

So that's why we are an international organization.

I had served in 2012, 2014, as the GFWC director of junior clubs, meaning I sat on the executive committee and thoroughly enjoyed that.

And my dear friend from Joliet, from our GFWC Illinois State Federation, worked her way up the ranks.

And in 2022, 2024, she was the international president.

- Oh gosh.

- And as such, she lives in the GFWC headquarters and each international president has a special assistant.

- [Christine] And you were that.

- And I had the absolute perfect job for me because I was her special assistant.

I didn't have to sit through meetings.

I want to make that, because I get a little antsy, but I got to take care of our beautiful headquarters.

I got to work with staff.

I got to welcome all of our guests.

And whenever we had committees come in, I felt like I was running a bed and breakfast and I got to visit with all of our club women from around the country that were on committees that came.

- Really, really?

- Loved it.

- And then you got to, well, you got into a lot of special events throughout Washington DC.

- Absolutely.

- Trips to the White House, visits to the White House.

- Yes, yes.

And in fact, the very first Monday that Debbie sat behind the president's desk, we had to leave at 11 o'clock because we were invited to a program on the South Lawn of the White House.

- Okay.

- Very first day.

- Oh, that?

Wow.

- Yeah.

- [Christine] How exciting was that?

- That started the administration off very well.

- It sure did.

It sure did.

So then you're back home and- - In Illinois.

- You have been a CASA volunteer for 16 years?

- Yes.

- And how did that come about?

- Because of GFWC Illinois.

- Okay.

- GFWC Illinois partners with Prevent Child Abuse Illinois and their executive director talked about the CASA programs.

And I got very interested in that because- - Oh, CASA, Court Appointed Special- - Yes, Court Appointed Special Advocates.

- Right.

Okay.

- Sorry.

- [Christine] That's okay.

I gotta make sure.

- Yes, and so I knew that Mike and I in our lifestyle wasn't conducive to being foster parents, but I just thought I have to be able to help these kids in the system, in the family court system.

So Woodford County at the time did not have CASA.

And so I came to Peoria and I met Pam Perrilles, who's the executive director.

And in fact, I had Pam and the former executive director of the Center for Prevention of Abuse.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, whatever her name was, speak at a meeting.

- Okay.

- And that's how I got involved with CASA.

- Okay.

Was that Martha?

- Martha.

- Martha Herm.

Okay.

- Yes.

Oh, she's a lovely lady.

And so I was a CASA volunteer for 16 years, and I had two different cases that both were seven years long.

- [Christine] Oh gosh.

And those poor children.

- I will just tell one real quick story.

I had a young man that his mother did not have parental rights and his father was dead.

- Okay.

- So he was with his half sister, living with her biological father, and he wanted to adopt this young man.

And he was a little leery and he kind of started having behaviors.

And I said, "Buddy," I said, "What's going on here?"

And he said, "Well, I've been thinking, if I get adopted, then everything stops."

And I mean, I'd had this case for like five and a half years at this time.

And I said- - "Well what do you mean?"

- "What do you mean?"

- Right.

- And he says, "Well, if I get adopted, then I won't have you."

- Aw.

- Oh.

Talk about- - Thump, thump, thump.

- Oh, I just said, "Well, no, because once you're adopted, then you're not in the system and no, you won't have me."

And he says, "Well, I don't want to be adopted."

- Oh my gosh.

- And that was a wise decision because in the end, over two years later, he did get adopted by a family member and it worked out very well.

- Good.

- So in my 16 years of being a CASA volunteer, that was my only adoption.

- All right.

Okay.

- The others went back to their biological parents once everything got worked out.

- Interesting.

But it's tough.

And it's an emotional drain on you as well.

- It is, and for a lot of these kids, their CASA volunteer is the only constant that they have.

- In their lives.

- Because by this point, this young man had had probably four or five caseworkers, and I was the only one that was still there.

- With him.

- Yeah.

- Gosh.

Back to the women's club, you also had something to do with rest areas throughout the state of Illinois.

So tell us about that.

- Okay.

- That's a pretty good accomplishment.

- Yes, so once I got home from Washington DC, I got back on the GFWC Illinois board of directors as the legislation chairman.

And in August of 2024, one of our members from Morris called, and she said, "There's a situation that I want to talk to you about."

And I said, "Okay."

And she said, "Our rest areas in Illinois do not have the stickers in the bathrooms or on the back of the doors that gives human trafficking victims the hotline number and other information."

And I said, "Oh, you've got to be kidding."

And so she gave me the list of all of the rest areas she had driven up and down I-80.

So this was Mary Lee's passion.

- All right.

And that's a main corridor?

- Yes.

Yes.

- Okay.

- So I said, "Okay."

She said, "I called IDOT and they said that they can't do it."

And I said, "Well, we're just gonna bypass them and we're going directly to the legislators."

- Okay.

- And for 18 months, I was down at the Capitol.

I was on the phone sending emails, having all of our members of GFWC Illinois contact their legislators, sending them emails, phone calls.

And after 18 months of all of the hard work, our bill, HB 4654, was signed by the governor in June.

And it is now a law that every bathroom and every bathroom stall door will have these stickers.

- So female and male?

- Yeah.

Yes.

- Okay.

- And because there are male human trafficking victims.

- Traffickers as well.

Yes.

- Yes.

I had to testify for the House committee and I had pictures.

I went prepared because I could not believe that, it was embarrassing that our state wasn't allowing that.

- So other states obviously have it, or?

- Oh yes, because I have, obviously with GFWC- - Okay.

You have connections.

- I've got friends in like 50 states, and so I had them send me pictures of their rest areas.

- Okay.

Good for you.

- Yeah.

- Good for you.

So real quickly, you're also on the board for Heller Center for Kids with Cancer.

- [Becky] Yes.

With my husband, Mike.

- All right, and so what else do you see that you can possibly fit into your world of (laughs) a little busy person?

- So the rest of the time is dedicated to my 10 grandchildren.

- And most of them are here?

- Yes.

Eight of the 10 are here.

- All right.

- And then two are in Jefferson City.

- And what's something specific that you do that's really, that really catches their attention, that grandma and grandpa are, is that the names you go by?

- No, we go by Gigi and Papa.

- Okay.

So I know that they get to swim a lot and everything.

- Yes.

- But is there anything else that you have up your sleeve?

Because I need some ideas.

- Well, so now that they're all old enough, every grandchild gets their own shopping trip for their birthday.

- Oh, fun.

- And they know how much money they get and then we do math in the aisles at Walmart and Target.

- Well, isn't that good?

- Yeah.

- So I started that with the older ones and then it just kept getting younger because they saw that their sibling was getting to go on their shopping trip.

And we do lunch and we do snacks and it is their day.

- That's fun.

- Yeah.

- So bucket list.

Is there anything on the bucket list?

You're never gonna stop bugling?

- No.

No.

On my bucket list... Well, I'm gonna be really honest with you.

I wouldn't mind finding a couple more areas where I could advocate and go down there and get another bill passed because I loved that.

- Okay.

So anybody have ideas?

Well, get ahold of Becky.

Okay.

- No, I really... Yeah.

And it was such... I mean, you know, Mary Lee, this was her passion, but then it became mine.

- Right.

- Because once we got the ball rolling- - [Christine] You picked it up and ran with it.

- Absolutely.

- Good for you.

Well, Becky Webber, thank you so much for being here.

This has been, I found out some things I hadn't known about you and I've known you for a long time.

- Yep, 31 years, I think we decided.

- 31, I think we did.

And I hope that you've enjoyed learning about Becky Webber.

And so in order to close this show out perfectly, I would love to have you sound "Taps" for us.

- Okay.

I will.

- And thanks for being with us.

Hope you enjoyed this.

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