Dayne H. Webb
March 6, 1930—January 1, 2023
Known for her joie de vivre and effervescent smile, Dayne Hilford Webb passed away in Reno, NV on New Year’s Day 2023, with her daughter by her side. A lithe, energetic woman even into her later years, she was 92 years old.
Born on March 6, 1930 in Tulsa OK, she was the eldest child of Glen and Gladys Hilford. Along with her brothers Bill and Mike, the Hilfords moved to Hot Springs, NM—which was later renamed Truth or Consequences—and Dayne attended Hot Springs High School.
Painting and drawing were some of Dayne’s first loves, but she was soon drawn to the stage, starring in Shaw’s Pygmalion in high school. Later, attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, she would star in Sophocles’ Antigone. She transferred to Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA and received her BA in broadcasting.
It was while working for a summer broadcasting seminar at Stanford that she met Cecil Webb—his registration form caught her eye. They dated, fell in love and were married in 1953 in San Francisco, CA where Dayne bore two children, Dave and Carol. The family stayed in San Francisco a short while—Dayne working at TV station KPIX and Cec working eventually at KRON—before moving across the bay and living in Marin County for most of the ‘60s. There they found the warm embrace of community, from a babysitting co-op in Mill Valley to a welcoming circle of neighbors in Los Ranchitos. Always a working mom, Dayne went on to manage the office for her friend Jack Davidson and his company Davidson Films for several years.
In an entrepreneurial swerve that surprised many, not the least of all their children, Cec and Dayne bought a radio station in northeastern California in 1971, going into business for themselves. (That the new business was near great skiing had real appeal to the Webbs.) Situated in Susanville, KSUE grew to be a stalwart ingredient of the town, participating in the civic, political and business affairs of its 6500 citizens. KSUE was a family affair, with Dayne managing the books and scheduling ads, Cec managing the air and sales staff (and voicing ads in his distinctive baritone voice), and the kids working as DJs.
Dayne and Cec sold the station in 1989 and moved to Reno in 2000 to be nearer to Carol and her growing family. Their retirement years were happy ones.
A cancer survivor, Dayne was fond of flashing her trademark smile and saying how lucky the Webb family was. She loved to travel with Cec; they journeyed all over the world. She subscribed to the Reno Philharmonic and Broadway Comes To Reno, was an active member in the First Congregational Church of Reno, and The Club at Arrowcreek. She was a longtime member of Soroptimist International and an active business volunteer in the Northern Nevada chapter of SCORE.
While she enjoyed golf, her true passion was skiing—it was not uncommon to see her skiing down Mt. Rose, ever slow and steady, with a wide grin on her face. She skied into her 80s and golfed into her 90s.
Dayne Webb was preceded in death by her parents, Glen and Gladys Hilford, her brother Bill Hilford and her beloved husband Cecil Webb in 2016. She is survived by her brother Mike Hilford of Newport Beach, CA; her son Dave Webb (Melinda Welsh) of Davis, CA; her daughter Carol Webb Monroe (Bill Monroe) of Reno, NV and her grandsons Will Monroe (Eileen Yan) of Murrysville, PA and John Monroe of Beaverton, OR. She is also survived by great-granddaughter Emily who was born in Pennsylvania in October 2022.
There will be a memorial for Dayne Hilford Webb at 2 pm on April 22, 2023 at the First Congregational Church of Reno, 627 Sunnyside Drive, Reno, NV. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Soroptimist International of Susanville, P.O. Box 442, Susanville, CA 96130.
