Part 2, Lillian Webb: She is 'Miss Lillian of Norcross'

After growing up in Norcross and graduating from high school as valedictorian of the class of 1946, which totaled 19 close friends that she had known her entire life, Essie Lillian Hicks turned her attention to college and a degree in chemistry from what is now Georgia College and State University, located in Milledgeville.

But another type of chemistry was afoot for the young college student. 

James Howard Webb, a young man with whom she had gone to school since the first grade in Norcross, may have been the only distraction from her studies that young Lillian had ever experienced.  Inevitably, they were married and would raise a family – two boys and two girls – within a block from, as Webb puts it, “the old home place,” where she grew up.

Meanwhile, the world was changing, even in Norcross.  Young Lillian Hicks, now Lillian Webb, saw a plethora of community needs.  Her friends around town begged her to seek office.  It was 1969 and all eyes in Norcross were on the upcoming city council election of 1970.

“They told me, ‘Lillian you already know everyone in town’, which was true,” she recalls.  So, she filed to run for the Norcross City Council.

“I didn’t tell Jack,” she laughs.  “I believe he read about it the next day in the paper.”

And with that somewhat unceremonious leap for womankind, Lillian Webb started down the road that would lead to tremendous changes for Norcross and Gwinnett County. 

She took the “old school” approach to politics.

“I just went door to door – even if they weren’t registered voters - and handed out what I called ‘One Vote” fliers, showing how many important elections had been decided by just one vote.”

That simple strategy and her hometown girl charm carried Election Day 1970.

As the first elected female city council member in Norcross, she concentrated her efforts on getting a fire station in the city that would be operated by professional firefighters.

“Up until then we had a volunteer fire department,” she recalls. ”But, there were times when most of the men were away or working in other towns and weren’t around to answer the fire alarms.”

A series of devastating fires in 1970 made it clear that a growing town like Norcross required a professionally operated, full-time fire station.  The council worked with Gwinnett County and, in 1971, established Station Number One.  But that was only part of the answer.

“There was no water pressure; a little two-inch line for the water supply made it so that you could spit on a fire and get it out quicker,” she recalls.

So, in 1974, when council member Lillian Webb broke the Norcross political glass ceiling - again - to become the first elected female Mayor of Norcross, she set her sights on a better water system. 

Between 1975 and 1977, Norcross spent $26-million to completely revamp the water and sewer system.

“We tore up every street in town,” she says with her charming laugh.  Then wrinkling her nose, adds, “and we also got rid of the old oxidation pond.” A boat ride on the smelly pond convinced her that it had to go.

“I never wanted to ride in a boat on that filthy thing ever again!”

Along the way in her political career - what with southern traditions regarding titles of endearment and respect - Mayor Lillian Webb became, simply, “Miss Lillian.”

She served as the Norcross mayor from 1974 to 1984 – and again from 1996 to 2007.  In between, she found time to become the first Gwinnett County Commission Chairman, where - just as in Norcross - every road in Gwinnett County was improved and 400 miles of water lines and 430 miles of sewer lines where installed during Webb’s “watch.” 

And that was just part of her political résumé.

Among other groups and organizations, Webb served as the first female president of the Georgia Municipal Association.  She also served on the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the National League of Cities, the National Department of Energy Advisory Board, the Gwinnett Hospital Authority and the American Cancer Society.

“She is a self- assured force to be reckoned with,” says Anne Webb, Miss Lillian's daughter-in-law.  "But underneath, she is an endearing icon of public service and compassion.  Adversity does not phase her; she gains strength from it.”

Gardening is a passion of Miss Lillian’s – and not just the light work.

“Lillian on her riding lawnmower is a familiar sight in Norcross,” says Anne.

But then the beautification of Norcross has always been close to Miss Lillian’s heart.  So, on July 3, 2009, when the city dedicated the 5-acre Lillian Webb Park, she was on hand to cut the ribbon and was very pleased.  Yet, she talks about it without any sense of self-promotion, even though it is named in her honor.

“It’s the people’s park,” she says with a satisfied smile.  What's more, it represents what she wants to see for the future of Norcross – continued improvements for the people of Norcross. 

Webb stresses that parks and other public improvements are essential to the life of Norcross.  Services such as water and sewer as well as the city-operated electrical service – another city improvement, established in 1973, while Miss Lillian served on the city council and which now serves nearly 4,000 customers over 84 miles of electric lines – must always be properly maintained and improved to provide the taxpayer with the best service possible.

Serving others: a characteristic instilled early within a young girl growing up in Norcross - a characteristic emanating from a dynamic woman who would lead Norcross and the extended community at large.

To add to what former Atlanta Journal-Constitution associate publisher and Norcross resident Elliot Brack once wrote, “Miss Lillian of Norcross, a distinguished, courteous, generous and gracious mayor...” – and a true Southern lady.