wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Larry Roberts - 'a true gentleman' and church

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Note #8530 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04460
October 14, 2004

Larry Roberts - 'a true gentleman' and church leader - dies at 81

Services set for tomorrow in Mississippi

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - A Presbyterian churchman and a retired Air Force colonel who
served as one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen in World War II died on Tuesday.

	Known for his gentleness and dignity, Col. Lawrence E. Roberts, 81,
of Biloxi, MS, died quietly at his home of a heart attack. He was a resident
of the Mississippi Gulf Coast for 35 years.

	Married to Lucimarian Tolliver Roberts - the co-chair of the steering
committee that is directing the $40 million Mission Iniative campaign of the
Presbyterian Church (USA) - Roberts also faithfully served the national
church as a member of the General Assembly Council (GAC),  including serving
in 1993-94 as its vice chair.

	The couple recently celebrated 57 years of marriage.

	The family released a statement that read: "He instilled in us a deep
love of God, and a sense of responsibility to others. We are at peace knowing
he is being received into heaven."

	Services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, at the Triangle
Chapel on Keesler Air Force Base. Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. Burial will follow at the Biloxi National Cemetary in Biloxi.

	"Larry Roberts was a pastor's ideal layman, active in the larger
church and in the local parish," said the Rev. Dr. Ted Hanawalt, pastor of
First Presbyterian Church in Bay St. Louis, MS, the Roberts family's parish.
"Quiet, steadfast, wise, and generous with his time, talents and resources.
Although among the oldest members of the congregation, his ideas were
innovative and strategic in the promotion of the church.

	"When he served on the session, his committee was Church Growth, and
his standard was: Church growth begins with spiritual growth. His leadership,
counsel and genuine friendship will be greatly missed."

	Roberts entered the U.S. Army Air Corps as a private and retired as a
colonel. He was a graduate of the 44K class of the prestigious Tuskegee
Airmen, a course begun in Alabama in 1942 to give flight training to blacks
who were excluded from aviation training in the military.

	By the end of World War II almost 1,000 African Americans had won
their wings at Tuskegee Army Air Field. They flew more than 200 bomber escort
missions without a single loss to enemy fire.

	He graduated the program as a second lieutenant and was assigned to
the 477th Medium Bombardment Group and later the 332nd fighter wing.

	Roberts flew Piper Cubs, Boeing B-25 bombers, C-54 transports and
F-86 fighter jets. His unit trained in light bombers, but WW II ended before
he flew in combat. Roberts served in Vietnam, where he won one of three
Legion of Merit medals.

	His daughter, Robin Roberts, who is the news anchor for ABC's "Good
Morning America" program, flew in an A-T6, an aircraft similar to what her
father had flown, during a televised visit to the Tuskegee airfield in 2003.
Her viewers watched as she taxied down the airfield runway at sunrise, the
site where the Tuskegee Airmen did their initial flight training.

	Among the 19 service medals and awards received during his service
career are the Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Joint Service
Commendations Medal, the United States Air Force Commendation Medal, and the
Distinguished Service Order and Air Service Medal, received from the Republic
of Vietnam.

	Roberts served in both technical and command assignments in the
United States, Japan, Canada, Turkey and Vietnam.

	This included duty as a jet fighter pilot in the Air Defense Command
and as a flight instructor at the fighter school at Williams Air Force Base,
as a ground electronics officer in Japan and Canada, as chief of ground
communication electronics and meteorological maintenance at an air division
headquarters, as a department chief for ground electronics and officer
training at Keesler Air Force Base, as commander of a NATO communications
organization and as chief of communication electronics and logistics advisor
to the Vietnamese Air Force headquarters. He served as commander of the
Maintenance and Supply Group at Keesler Air Force Base.

	Roberts was deeply involved in both his church and his community. He
was a former member and chairman of the Presbytery of Mississippi Council and
an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Bay St. Louis. He was a member of
the Board of Trustees of Leadership Gulf Coast, a former member and chairman
of the Board of Trustees of the Pass Christian School District, a former
member and chairman of the Executive Board of the Mississippi School Boards
Association, a former member and chairman of the southern region of the
Mississippi School Boards Association, and director of the Genesis
Foundation.

	He served as a member of the GAC from 1989 to 1995.

	The Rev. Neal Weatherhogg of Topeka, KS - who was the GAC chair when
Roberts served as its vice chair - remembers Roberts as a gentle human being.
"I just have so much respect for that man's integrity. He was a gentle man
and a true gentleman. He carried himself with a quiet dignity. And he
absolutely loved the Presbyterian Church.

	"I never heard him refuse an opportunity to serve. If you asked him
to do so, he'd always answer, 'Yes, I'd be happy to.'"

	Roberts was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Dorothy
Roberts, and one brother, Robert D. Roberts.

	He is survived by his wife; one son, Lawrence E. Roberts II of
Houston, TX; three daughters, Dorothy Roberts McEwen of Long Beach, MS,
Sally-Ann Roberts Craft of New Orleans, LA, and Robin R. Roberts of New York
City; eight grandchildren; and two great-granddaughters.

	Two of Roberts' daughters anchor news broadcasts. Sally-Ann Roberts
Craft is the morning anchor of WWL-TV 4 in New Orleans.

	In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be sent to the
Lawrence and Lucimarian Roberts/Helpline Scholarship Fund of the Gulf Coast
Community Foundation, 1596 Glenn Swetman St., Biloxi, MS 39530.

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