Wilma and Wellington Webb are as close to Denver royalty as it gets. The couple boast a combined 40 years of serving as state representatives and mayor and first lady of Denver, in addition to decades of advocacy.

For their lifetime of public service, Wilma and Wellington have been awarded the Vanguard Legacy Medal by Gov. Jared Polis as part of the 2021 Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medals.

While this is a prestigious honor – previously bestowed on state leaders such as Dana Crawford and Polly Baca – the Webbs said they didn’t get into public service for the glory. Having both grown up in northeast Denver and graduated from Manual High School, they never dreamed of being recognized in this way.

“We were not children or young people who dreamed about being in politics or being elected. We really got involved because we wanted to make a difference for people,” Wilma said. “This award is something that we didn’t aspire to. So, it even makes it more special.”

Though Wilma and Wellington were independently involved in local advocacy, the couple’s political careers kicked off in earnest years after they married in 1969. Wellington entered elected office in 1973, representing Denver in the Colorado House of Representatives for four years. In 1980, Wilma was elected to the state House where she represented Denver for nearly 13 years.

Wellington served as mayor of Denver from 1991 to 2003, making him the city’s first Black mayor and Wilma the first Denver first lady to have held political office.

The couple have and continue to work together closely in all of their endeavors. When Wellington was preparing to run for mayor in 1990, he said a poll estimated that he would come in third place in the election, receiving only 7% of the vote – a far cry from the 58% of the vote he would go on to win.

“All the advisers in the room said I should not run, except one,” Wellington said. “Wilma said, ‘Well, one thing is for sure, if you don’t run, you can’t win.’ And I laughed and said, ‘Well, that settles that. We’re running.'”

In the House, Wilma was the first Black member of the joint budget committee – the legislature’s most powerful committee – and was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. She introduced several bills that became law, including comprehensive substance abuse treatment, home-based long-term health care for senior citizens and subpoena power for the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

In one of her most famous achievements, Wilma carried the legislation to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a state holiday in Colorado. Wilma introduced four bills over four years to establish the holiday before it was finally adopted by the legislature in 1984 – two years before the first federal MLK Day.

“It was not an easy task, but it was a task that really has been fruitful,” Wilma said. “It has made America a better country and it’s made people throughout the world better people.”

During his time in the House, Wellington introduced the state’s first legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. He also led bills to prohibit discrimination based on physical disability, to prohibit discrimination for granting credit based on marital status and to provide adopted individuals the opportunity to meet their birth parents.

As mayor, Wellington oversaw the completion of Denver International Airport, created the Denver Health Authority and contributed more than 2,000 acres of new park land for Denver.

Despite these state-altering achievements, Wellington said he and Wilma are proudest of the impact they’ve had on the lives of individuals.

While Wellington was mayor, a young man from Aurora showed up at his office asking for help, saying he couldn’t afford to return to college at Howard University in Washington, D.C. After meeting with Wilma, the couple called Howard University and paid all of the student’s debt with their own money.

“That was one of our proudest moments,” Wellington said. “We said to him, we only want three things: One, we want him to graduate. Two, we want him to come back and see us after he graduates. And three, we want him to help someone else that comes to him later in life. That he makes a difference in their life, the same way we were trying to make a difference in his.”

The Webbs have continued this kind of work through the creation and funding of several scholarships for local students. In the last year, the couple donated $40,000 to their alma mater, Manuel High School in Denver, and $20,000 to Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, where Wellington went to school.

“We never have quit,” Wilma said. “Even though we don’t have elected titles, we are still involved with helping people, supporting people who want to run for office and speaking on certain issues. We’ll probably be around for a long, long time.”

The Denver Gazette will publish profiles of all eight medal recipients in advance of the April 6 award ceremony.

The awards are the work of CiviCO, a nonprofit that identifies and provides training on current affairs to civic-minded leaders with the aim of cultivating long-term guidance for the advancement of the state.

Deemed by organizers as “one of the highest honors bestowed upon citizens and organizations of Colorado for their significant contributions to communities across the state,” the medals were first presented in 2015, under then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, but soon attracted the support of former governors, Democrat and Republican.

Recipients embody Colorado values of service, integrity, teamwork, respect and innovation, CiviCO said.

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