John Ray Webster

Webster was born on March 31, 1942, in Stoneville, North Carolina, the youngest of five children, to James Jefferson Webster and Nannie Hurt Strong.^[1] His father was a local farmer, businessman, and politician who served as the county commissioner for Rockingham County.^[1] Through his mother he is descended from Scottish emigrants George Irving and Jane McDonald, who came to the United States in 1834 from Closeburn, Dumfriesshire aboard the Hector.^[2] His maternal grandparents, Margaret May Irving and James Robert Strong, inherited a large tobacco farm along the Dan River from Irving's parents, Walter Scott Irving and Margaret Hurt Robertson, a member of a Virginian colonial family.^[3][4] Through his mother, he is related to the mathematician Ione Grogan.^[3] The last post office for the former community of Waddell, North Carolina was operated out of the east room of the Irving farmhouse.^[3] Webster's parents later owned the farm.^[2]

Webster attended North Carolina State University as an undergraduate student and obtained a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Oklahoma State University-Stillwater. He works as a veterinarian in Rockingham County, specializing in livestock.^[5][6] He served in the United States Army with the rank of captain.^[7]

Webster lives in Stoneville.^[8] He is a musician, playing the bass fiddle with the Green House River Band, a bluegrass band that performs in North Carolina and Virginia.^[9] Webster manages his family's farm, now a cattle farm, which he and his siblings inherited from their father.^[7]

A competitive checkers player,^[10] Webster won the United States Blitz Go-As-You-Please Championship at the American Checker Federation National Championship in Medina, Ohio on July 25, 2011.^[5][6] He also won the North Carolina State Checkers Open in Greensboro, North Carolina on May 18, 2011, and the Southern Open in Lebanon, Tennessee on July 10, 2011.^[6] He was a silver medalist at the West Tennessee Strawberry Festival Open on 7 May 2011 in Humboldt, Tennessee.^[5] In October 2011 he competed in San Remo, Italy at the World Qualifier Checkers Tournament.^[5] Webster began playing checkers when he was ten years old at country general stores. He traveled to play in Reidsville, Danville, Draper, Burlington, and Winston-Salem through the YMCA's Chess & Checkers Association.^[5][7] His first North Carolina State tournament, when he was sixteen years old, was in Hickory in 1958.^[5] He has won the North Carolina checkers championship eleven times.^[5][9] He also acted as an early checkers mentor for his nephew and competitive checkers player, Jeff.^[11]

In 2005 he placed seventh at the Tennessee State Championships.^[12] In 2007 he won the U.S. GAYP National Championship in Las Vegas.^[5] He was a member of the United States International Checkers Team four times, playing in the United States vs. United Kingdom and Ireland international matches.^[5][9] Webster was a top player in two international matches, at Weston-Super-Mare in England in 1989 and again in Las Vegas in 2005.^[5][6] In September 2014 Webster competed at the 97th Annual Virginia State Checkers Tournament in Bedford.^[13]

In 2015 Webster won the Tennessee State Open in Lebanon, Tennessee.^[14]

The John Webster GAYP Tournament, hosted by the American Checkers Federation, is named in honor of Webster.^[15]