Longtime contributor to SMDR dead at 87

The San Marcos community was dealt a blow Sunday night. 

Bibb Underwood, the man of a thousand and one stories, drew a final breath Sunday evening. Underwood was a father, a grandfather, a distinguished veteran, an engaged family therapist, a friend to many and a dedicated writer – writing hundreds of profiles that recorded the lives of so many, as well as two books. 

“Everything Bibb did, he did with passion — whether it was biking in the Rocky Mountains or revealing things we never knew about people we see everyday,” San Marcos Daily Record Managing Editor Anita Miller said. “He was a skilled interviewer and talented writer who supplied profiles and feature stories to the Daily Record for 20 years. He never received any monetary compensation, writing solely for the love of doing so. Our hearts are heavy as we realize we will never again hear his laugh in our newsroom.” 

Underwood’s laugh and endless wit were part of his charm. He was charismatic and caring, devious and delightful, poignant and pointed, and he poured those traits into all of his writing.

“Bibb is one of the most gifted writers I’ve ever known and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his work,“ friend Don Anders said. 

Anders saw Underwood days before he passed and said that he was  “just as jovial as he always was.”

“He loved everyone deeply. He loved his family. He gave so much to the community and he lived life to the fullest and he cherished every day. Anyone that knew him was blessed by him,” Underwood’s daughter Jamie Reed said. “He loved deeply, everything he did he did it with such passion and just the way that he gave, he gave so much of himself and I want the  community to know how deeply he loved and cherished every moment.

“For the three siblings, we would want everyone to know, how deeply we loved him and how deeply he loved life,” Reed continued. “We are beyond blessed, everyone that knew him was blessed.”

Underwood was a talented profiler, having recorded and written the lives and profiles of over 200 people in the area throughout his freelance career with the San Marcos Daily Record. Underwood’s first profile for the paper was of a woman dedicated to working with patients in the local mental health center. Out of his own curiosity and a want for others to meet her – if only vicariously – he sat down and recorded the story of Donna Schoonover. Since that day, he remained busy working for the San Marcos Daily Record – a final movie review from his latest writing endeavor “A Retrospect on the Silver Screen” still sits in an inbox, waiting to be published. 

The things that he hadn’t given to the paper, he collected in his book “Crumbs For A Hungry Soul” – a collection of short stories, poems and observations that carry both wisdom and humor.

Underwood was not only a pillar of his community, but a highly-decorated veteran that served in the Korean War and Vietnam War.

Underwood was born in rural west Texas and graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agriculture in May of 1951 – when the Korean War was in full swing –  and immediately was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for training in the U.S. Army. 

He is credited with saving the lives of many under his command – from risking his life in October 1965 while pulling survivors from a burning helicopter on a dusty pickup zone in Vietnam to a heroic effort to extricate a troop of American soldiers, known as Charlie Company, in 1966 from a sure death in the jungles of Vietnam. Author George C. Wilson would go on to tell that story in his book “Mud Soldiers: Life Inside the New American Army.” 

A thousand feet above the raging battle, Underwood called in artillery from the back of a Huey helicopter, as the Viet Cong D-800 Battalion’s circle tightened around Charlie Company. He was flying over the battle hour after hour, taking time out only to switch into a fully fueled helicopter when his own ran low. 

The Army would later say that 1,100 artillery shells were fired to help save Charlie Company and Wilson would go on to write in his book that 1st Lt. John Wells Libs, leader of 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company said, “God bless you, Bibb Underwood,” into the earth that bounced back into his face every time another volley of artillery sent by Underwood crashed to the ground around him. 

Underwood retired from the Army with 27 years of service, a Soldier’s Medal for his heroism in pulling survivors from a burning helicopter, three Bronze Stars for the night he spent sending in artillery to save Charlie Company in the jungles of Vietnam, a Purple Heart when he was shot down in a helicopter and a Meritorious Service Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster.

Perhaps what Underwood did best though was capture, with a fine-toothed comb, the small everyday moments that marked his life as well as those around him, and through his writing, he created an unintentional profile of himself. Or as he put it in “Crumbs For A Hungry Soul,” about his writing, “It is, simply put, a part of my soul.”

Pennington Funeral Home is in charge of the funeral arrangements and the service will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church of San Marcos, 129 W. Hutchison St.