Whether it’s 3, 13 or 26 miles, friends and family of William “Billy” Webber will have the former police chief in their minds and
their hearts during this year’s Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. The Sept. 13 event is the first Jimmy Fund walk since Webber’s death in November from pancreatic cancer, and Webber would have participated in the event were he alive and well, said his wife, Kathy Webber. “Billy and I had done it for years,” she said. “It was something we enjoyed doing, and we had a nice core of people who had done it for several years.” More than 50 chiefs from across the state plan to take part in the walk in honor of Rowley Police Chief Kevin Barry, whose throat cancer is in remission, and in remembrance of Webber as well. Northborough Police Chief Mark Leahy is preparing for his third Jimmy Fund Walk, planning to do 13.1 miles with family members. He and Webber became close friends in 2003, and often dined and traveled together with their wives. “I do it because I lost people that I loved, and that’s the bottom line,” said Leahy said. “Hopefully they’ll find a cure for this before we lose anyone else we love.” While many chiefs do the 3-mile walk with cancer patients and their families, others choose the half or full Marathon options. Billy Webber enjoyed doing the entire 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton to Boston, Kathy Webber said.
“Kiddingly, he’d say he was going to show everyone up by doing the whole thing,” Kathy Webber said.