William Edwin Roberts, Jr.

Bill Roberts Jr. was 93 years old, born September 11, 1928 in Grenada MS and moved with his family to Kosciusko in 1933. He peacefully passed away Gulf Coast VA Healthcare System on January 14, 2022 in Biloxi MS. Graveside services are at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at Kosciusko City Cemetery with military honors. Rev. Gary Glazier will be ministering. He was retired from his privately owned Roberts Hardware in 1995. He graduated from Kosciusko High School in December 1945 and entered Mississippi State College in January 1946 where he majored in Civil Engineering. He went straight through school, winter and summer, completing three years’ work in May 1948. Having received an appointment to the US Naval Academy, he entered the Academy in June 1948, graduating on June 6. 1952. On June 7, 1952 he married Jean Carol Richards in the Naval Academy Chapel and the spent that summer at the Naval Academy where he taught sailing and military discipline to the incoming Plebes. In the fall of 1952, he went to Japan where he boarded the USS Perkins DDR 877 and participated in the Korean War. After two Korean tours on the USS Perkins, he was transferred to the USS EPCER 855 where he served as executive officer after which he was transferred to the USS Redhead MHC 48 as Commanding Officer. The Redhead was homeported in Port Townsend Washington. Following that tour, he was given shore duty s Aid to the Commander Naval Base Long Island, California. He served there until he was called by Admiral Rickover for Nuclear Power Training in Idaho. After completing nuclear training, he was assigned to the USS Long Beach, under construction in Boston Massachusetts. The Long Beach was the first nuclear powered surface ship. After completion and sea trial in 1961, Bill Roberts left the Navy and returned to Kosciusko with his wife and three children. In Kosciusko Bill joined his father in the hardware business. In 1964 Bill started Roberts Construction Company Inc. and participated in both companies until his retirement in 1995. During his active years, Bill was active in Kosciusko’s civic activities and in 2002 he was Citizen of the Year. That year he was head of a Habitat for Humanity project. He was a member of the Kosciusko Rotary Club for fifty years. Bill loved sailing and raced his sailboat for many years. He was a member of the Jackson Yacht Club where he raced his sailboat. He would also take his boat to Mobile AL where he raced in the Dauphin Island races and won his class many times. Bill was an active member of First United Methodist Church where he held most every lay member position throughout the years and taught the Men’s Bible Class and the Mrs. Walter V. Davis Ladies Sunday School class. He was preceded in death by his father, William Edwin Roberts, his mother, Frances Mae Nelson Roberts, and his wife Jean Carol Richards Roberts. He is survived by his son William Edwin “Bill” Roberts III (Julie), his daughter Dr. Caroline Roberts Norman (Roger Jr.), and his daughter Dr. Rebecca Fran Roberts. He is also survived by 5 grandchildren (Roger III [Taylor] and Will Norman, Maryalice and John Roberts, and James Worthy) and 2 great grandchildren (Roger IV and Warner Norman). Bill was a Gideon and Christian and loved teaching Sunday school to the elderly men’s class and the women’s class. Memorials may be made to the Gideons in Kosciusko, MS PO Box 554 and to the First United Methodist Church, Kosciusko, MS PO Box 1293.