Wilhelmena Katherine Fuller "Mena" Webb (April 26, 1915 – May 23, 2012) was an American writer and editor. She taught writing classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Evening College, was a columnist and society editoratThe Herald-Sun, a novelist, and the author of a biography on the industrialist Julian Carr.
Webb was born Wilhelmena Katherine Fuller in Atlanta on April 26, 1915, to Ralph Bell Fuller and Caro Lou Bacon Fuller.[1] She was the granddaughter of Bartholomew Fuller, a Presbyterian elder and civic leader who served on the Board of Education for Durham Public Schools.[1][2] She was a grandniece of Thomas Charles Fuller, a Confederate politician, and a niece of Thomas Blount Fuller, a prominent businessman and civic leader.[3][4] Her great-grandfather was Scottish architect William Bell.[4] Webb was named after her grandmother, Wilhelmina Haldane Bell Fuller.[5]
When Webb was six weeks old, her family moved to Durham, North Carolina and lived in a house on Cleveland Street, across from the Fuller School, which was named after her grandfather.[1] She was educated in Durham city schools and went on to attend Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Croft Secretarial and Accounting School.[1]
Webb worked at The Durham Sun as a society editor.[1][6] She also wrote her own stories and short pieces, the first published story was titled Childish Things and was included in the University of North Carolina's periodical Writers by Moonlight.[1] Webb taught writing courses at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Evening College.[1]
In 1969, she published her first novel, titled The Curious Wine.[1] In 1987, she published a biography on Julian Shakespeare Carr called Jule Carr: General Without an Army.[1][7][8] She also wrote a historical column for the Durham Sun and the Durham Morning Herlad called The Way We Were: Remembering Durham and wrote a memoir titled Out of My Mind that included short stories previously published in the Junior League magazine.[1][6][9]
