Saluting George "Boots" Weber: A Memorial

Editor's Note:  Someone many of us knew from community blogging here on Patch died Sunday night, and it's been hard for me to wait until Thursday to publish what I've been wanting to communicate about him. However, he was someone for which I was EXTREMELY thankful, and it seemed befitting to wait to Thanksgiving to do a tribute to him. The hard part was that Thanksgiving wasn't slated until Thursday. So, I've had three long days of remembering, thinking, contemplating, and mulling over things about this community leader.

But, from my perspective, this man was worth the wait.

George "Boots" Weber, a lifelong Eureka resident, enjoyed a good challenge. Stemming from his agricultural and farming roots, he always was up for figuring things out and learning something different. That even applied to when he discovered Eureka-Wildwood Patch, and decided he would be a blogger, even though he had to teach himself how to access the system to submit all the important recollections and observations he had swimming around inside his head. He deemed himself "The Old Blogger," and in true hard-headed George fashion, he attacked the computer keyboards with zeal.

He wrote prolifically, all the while knocking back Lymphoma. Before he started blogging, he was told by doctors to go home and die. But executing the Marine's motto of Semper Fidelis (always faithful, always loyal), I don't think George could bring himself to succomb without a fight. So fight he did, and he got better—living much longer than the medical community thought possible.

During that time, he prayed a lot, worried about America's economy, ran for public office again this year, shared philosophies in his blogging about how to navigate future cultural issues, signed up to become a distributor of organic food products, and applied special, blessed healing soil he learned about over the Internet.

George led us through stories about Eureka and area history that perhaps only he knew. The good thing is that many of his explanations, such as why Lone Elk Park is named that, now are archived in Internet history for future generations.

It would tickle George to know you are reading his two blogs:

The Story Of Lone Elk Park

Historical Background on Lone Elk Park Location

It's hard to know where to dive in about George's colorful life:  He was a pilot who created a landing strip in Eureka; he went off to be a proud Marine and survived to always salute the Flag; he bought and sold property around Eureka; he was a correctional officer; he ran against Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency; he was a 60-year plus Knights of Columbus member; he represented the area as a Missouri House of Representative in the 1960s; he liked a good fish fry; and he loved his wife, Roberta—recently even naming a new street in Eureka after her.

We are thankful to George for representing Eureka-Wildwood Patch in the past two Eureka Days parade.

I really missed him this month while covering Veterans Day festivities in Eureka, because he and I usually sat together during the events. He was visibly absent, and could always be counted on to share stories about Pearl Harbor.

Click here for the traditional obituary.

A Mass will be celebrated for George at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 at Most Sacred Heart Church in Eureka. In practical and helpful George fashion, he donated his body to the Saint Louis University Medical School, as did his wife.

Deacon Tom Eultgen for Most Sacred Heart Church, on Monday shared: "I have only known George for the last few years, and most of that time he was not in good health. I do know from talking to others at Most Sacred Heart parish, that George was an outstanding contributor to our parish community, especially with his time and talent. But even more so, he was an amazing example of someone who would work tirelessly in the service of others who could use his help in the Eureka area. George truly blessed us with his life, and will be extremly missed."

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Boots’ memory to Most Sacred Heart Church, 350 E. Fourth Street, Eureka, 63025, or to a charity of your choice.

George is survived by his brother, William F. (Bud) Weber, who shared his actual birthday day (March 2), and who is a former mayor of Eureka. He turned 93 years old this spring while George turned 87.

When George blogged about that momentous birthday coming, he wrote about a Tarot update he received online—The Odds are in Your Favor this Week. He shared:  "What an uplift that is!"

George was attempting to blog until the very end. Saturday, while I was covering a meeting in Greensfelder Park in Wildwood about a proposed treetop park, George called me on my cell phone, saying that I was missing "the story on the year." It turns out his body was in an oxygen-deprived state, and after his air machine finally kicked in, he experienced a state of europhia that his son, Dave, said the increase in energy made everything seem new to him:  "He thought of it all as a miracle, and in a sense that he truly experienced the miracle of how God feeds our bodies, he was right."