Lillian Hicks Webb

Lillian Hicks Webb. Norcross. As a pioneer for women in Norcross and Gwinnett County politics, Lillian Webb built a distinguished career that stretched nearly sixty years and spanned local, county, state, and national levels. She began her activism in 1950 as an organizer, chairing the Ninth District Republican Women, a role she held for fourteen years. In 1970, Norcross' centennial year, she became the first female elected to the Norcross City Council. Four years later, in 1974, she was voted in as the City's first female-mayor, a post to which she was re-elected for four consecutive terms. At the national level, she served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention three times, in 1972, 1976, and 1988. In the mid-1980s Lillian Webb expanded her sphere of influence at the state level by being elected the first female president of the Georgia Municipal Association. She then entered Gwinnett County politics as the first female Gwinnett County Commissioner and became the first woman to chair the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners. During her tenure at the county, she helped to successfully manage the explosive growth that characterized Gwinnett in the last quarter of the twentieth century. In the mid-1990s Lillian returned to her first love, her hometown of Norcross, and its residents enthusiastically welcomed her back, electing her to serve as mayor for ten more years before she retired from public office in 2007. Today Lillian Webb's legacy is seen in many areas of Gwinnett County and in Norcross-the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, the restored historic courthouse in Lawrenceville, the restored train depot in Norcross, and in ongoing enrichment programs that shape our leaders, including Leadership Gwinnett and Leadership Atlanta. The citizens of Norcross and Gwinnett County are, and will long continue to be, the benefactors of her rich legacy of dedication and devotion to public service. This park is named in her honor so all who come here will be reminded of Lillian Webb and her many contributions - a dynamic, talented, and gracious public servant and a friendly neighbor who always kept Norcross first in her heart.