The Webb City R-7 School District Hall of Fame Committee recently announced three 2025 Webb City Hall of Fame inductees – Dr. Robert Basnett ’40, Teddy (Hoffman) Steen ’71, and Joe Hensley ’91.
The Hall of Fame is a function of the Webb City R-7 Schools Foundation, which will honor the inductees on March 2, 2026, during the 22nd Annual Honors Banquet.
will be honored posthumously. He graduated from Webb City High School in 1940 and immediately volunteered for the Army Air Corps. He was assigned to the 416th Bomb Group as a navigator/bombardier. He served until 1945, flying 65 missions over Europe. He was awarded a Purple Heart, six Bronze Stars, The Distinguished Flying Cross, and an Air Medal with 11 Oak Leaf Clusters.
He later attended the University of Missouri, where he received a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry, master’s degree in dairy management and a DVM. In 1958, he moved to Fulton, where he began practicing veterinary medicine.
Dr. Basnett was married to his wife, Lanola, for 72 years. They had two children, Dr. Michael Basnett and Jan Recob.
a 1971 Webb City High School graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University) in 1980 and a teaching certificate for social studies in 1983.
Steen had a successful career with Cable One (now Sparklight) for 24 years as marketing manager and then regional sales manager. She later opened the Blue Moon Boutique in downtown Joplin.
In 2008, while employed with Cable One, Steen founded Ascent Recovery Residences, an intensive, residential program for men working through addiction recovery. Two more recovery programs were eventually established through Ascent – a women’s recovery program and the Recovery Outreach Community Center (ROCC). Ascent assisted thousands of individuals and was the recipient of the 2014 Recovery Support Outstanding Performer Award. In addition to her work with Ascent, Steen was a past director of Circles (now Building Bridges) with the United Way and was a case manager with Jasper County Treatment Courts. Steen has a daughter, Branden Clark, and one son, TJ Steen.
is a 1991 graduate of Webb City High School. He attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated with honors in 1995. He received his juris doctor from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1998. He immediately began practicing law handling general civil litigation, family law, and appeals, with an emphasis in juvenile and adoption law.
In 2002, he opened The Hensley Law Firm, which became Hensley & Nicholas in 2007. In November of 2014, he won election as the Associate Circuit Judge in Division 5. In 2024, he was elected to fill the Division 1 Circuit Bench position. Throughout his judgeship, he has received numerous awards and prestigious appointments. He and his wife, Dina, have two children, Ella and Joseph.