Wednesday, October 7, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Obituaries
Tourist economy has strong season
Richard Webb
April 27, 1955 — September 28, 2015
Richard Webb, 60, passed
away September 28, 2015,
with his family by his side
in Bend. A simple ceremony
was held Saturday at the
Webb’s home.
He was born April 27,
1955 to his mother, Lenora
O’Dell.
Rick was a lover of clas-
sic rock music and his 1990
Fat Boy Harley. He spent his
years traveling with his wife,
Kelly Webb, and daughter,
Nicole Webb, on his bike,
visiting family and seeing
the country.
Those who knew Rick
knew how loving and under-
standing Rick was. He
moved his family out to the
Central Oregon area from
Southern California in 2002.
He loved his family and all
the animals that the Webb
family had at their small
ranch. There was never a
dull moment being friends
with Rick. He spent his time
camping, hiking, and enjoy-
ing the outdoors with all his
friends and family.
Rick had been battling
liver cancer for the past
couple of years and had
been extremely healthy for
someone with his condi-
tion. But the disease took
his life on that September
morning. Rick although
fairly unresponsive, waited
to hear his loved ones, who
couldn’t make it in time,
prayers and goodbyes over
the phone before taking his
final breaths, his daughter
was lying in his arms, and
his local family and wife
were by his side.
His final days were spent
surrounded by his family
and friends. His life would
seem too short for many, but
those who knew him under-
stood that the quality of his
life was so great. He was
such a kind, courageous, and
loving man who reminded
everyone around him how
precious life was and how
to spend your years with the
ones you love.
Richard Webb was a
hero, an inspiration, best
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friend, husband, father, son,
and the most loving man you
could know! He was loved
by so many. This quote by
a man Rick loved sums him
up perfectly.
“To the world you may be
one person, but to one per-
son you may be the world.”
—John Lennon.
To Rick’s friends and
family, he was the world.
Sisters Area Chamber
of Commerce Executive
Director Judy Trego has an
upbeat assessment of Sisters’
tourist economy at the tail
end of the season.
“What I have heard from
the merchants downtown
is that they have had a very
good year and that their sales
are up, some by 30 percent,”
Trego told The Nugget last
week.
She said that lodging and
resort properties are doing
well.
“Aspen Lakes is having
weddings, FivePine is booked
and Loy (Helmly, manager
of Ponderosa Lodge) says
they’re doing really good as
well,” Trego said.
Room-tax collection is an
easy way to gauge how many
people are traveling to Sisters,
and indications are that tour-
ism is up considerably.
Room-tax numbers show
an 11.56 percent increase in
May, a very slight increase in
June, which is always busy
anyway, and a 9.8 percent
increase in July.
A large increase in the
middle of the off-season has
drawn notice. There was a
38 percent room tax jump in
January, Trego reported.
It’s hard to pin down
exactly what caused that
increase, but the Chamber
has made an effort to expand
its marketing of Sisters, and
good travel conditions due to
an unusually dry winter also
probably played a part.
“We can say advertis-
ing and great weather help
increase sales/lodging,”
Trego said.
Visitors are coming to
Sisters from all corners of the
globe.
“We have had visitors
from China, Canada the
United Kingdom, France, The
Netherlands, and from over
20 states who have signed on
our log,” Trego noted.
Many visitors hear about
Sisters by word of mouth,
particularly from people who
come here for one of Sisters’
major events and have a good
experience.
“They hear a lot about the
events,” Trego said. “The
word-of-mouth comes from
the event piece.”