Village of Robbins, age 101, celebrates longtime resident — also 101

Bernice Webb said she found it “wonderful” that her hometown, the Village of Robbins, decided to honor her with the key to the city Sunday.

After all, she said she knew Mayor Tyrone Ward’s mother back when she was young. And Webb pretty much knew all of Ward’s predecessors, too.

Webb and Robbins are almost exactly the same age. With 2018 nearing its end, both are turning 101.

“I love Robbins,” Webb said Sunday during a phone interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “Always will.”

The village honored Webb at its annual senior luncheon. The mayor called the opportunity to do so a “blessing.” Not only has “Mother Webb” been around almost as long as the village, she has long been engaged with local government.

“She’s been active throughout the many, many years that she’s been here,” Ward said. “Doing all those things necessary to keep a town moving.”

The mayor also said Webb has been a wonderful resource — someone he can turn to and ask, for example, “what happened in 1934?”

“She’s a history book, for sure,” Ward said. “Anytime you have a person who knows every single mayor … that in itself speaks volumes.”

Webb said she was born in October 1917 in Mississippi. She said she moved to Robbins with her family in 1918, when she was still a baby. The village was founded in December 1917, the mayor said.

Thinking back on her many years, Webb said she can remember Robbins “when you could stand in one place and look all over.”

But after all these years, she said, it’s still “my home.”