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Seward “Bob” Melville Roberts Jr., 84, of Lexington, passed away on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 at his home.
He was born July 20, 1935 in New Jersey to the late Seward M. Roberts Sr. and Lillian Stout Roberts. He studied psychology at BYU and attended Culver Military Academy. In his earlier life he was an entrepreneur. He coached and taught swim at Clyde Devine Swim School. He built corporations, raced professional racecars, motocross, owned a car lot, built cars and bought and sold real estate. After the death of his wife, he chose not to remarry, but rather to raise his six daughters by himself. Later in life, his passion led solely to teaching and mentoring children through swim. He coached at High Point Swim Club, FAST Swim Club and Denton Swim Club as well as private swim lessons.
In addition to his parents, Seward was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Joan Morrison Roberts.
Bob is survived by 6 daughters, Theresa Clinton, Tamara Kinsolving, Laura Dewitt, Leisl Brown, Holly Fletcher, and Kerisa Hatfield; 2 sons, Chris Roberts and Jeff Roberts; 35 grandchildren, Jannelle Tucker, Kyle MacKenzie, Rachel Richards, Allison Duckett, Madison Kinsolving, Caleb Kinsolving, Sarah Kinsolving, Ken Dewitt Jr., Katie Dewitt, Angeleen Dewitt, Brielle Dewitt, Race Dewitt, Preston Dewitt, Kerisa Dewitt, Paris McKenzie, Morreyah Snyder, Hunter Fletcher, Morgan Fletcher, Payton Fletcher, Garrett Fletcher, Cassandra Fletcher, “Robert” Austin Hatfield, Taylor Hatfield, Haleigh Hatfield, Skyler Hatfield, Hudson Hatfield, Sidney Hatfield, Ashlyn Hatfield; 24 great-grandchildren, and sister, Janet Roberts.
There will be a memorial service held at 11am on Saturday, September 28th, 2019 at the Denton Swimming Club Pool, 405 Klopman Mill Rd. Denton, NC 27239.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Denton Swimming Club, 405 Klopman Mill Rd, Denton, NC 27239.
Carolina Cremation is assisting the Roberts family. Online condolences may be made at www.carolinacremation.com.
Christoper Bradshaw says
Sure wish I could make it to this! My heart is with each and every person there! And Bob’s heart is with all of us! I was blessed with a few truly wonderful friends in my life! But not even all of them put together matched this dearest friend of all! I so cherish all of the time that he gave of himself to try to help myself and others! He so often gave of himself to better others! Without ever expecting or even looking for anything for himself in return! Bob gave of himself like this. Because he knew this is how every human being should be with each other! I often think about all of the times he would take me out in his boat on lake Coeur d’Alene. Spending the entire day sharing lessons to help broaden my wisdom! I will never forget the time he spent his entire afternoon and evening sharing a “Life Course” that he had developed and taught to rather large groups many years prior. So many memories! So many lessons! So much fun! The most unique part of our bond was the experiences that we couldn’t ever share with anyone else. Because no one would ever believe them! So many times we called each other, with the conversation starting out with, “You Are Not Going To Believe This! And we would both laugh! This occurred early in our relationship. It started out with him telling the story of shipwrecking a yacht off the Astoria channel. It gave me goosebumps as he shared this unbelievable story! Not so much because it was so unbelievable. But because I recognized precise details of the story! As he shared them, I remembered 10 years prior, listening to the updates of this family lost at sea, over the radio, as I was working on my car! And knew this story was exactly as he was sharing it to be! Something else Bob and I learned about our friendship, that made it very rare compared to any others! There wasn’t any amount of money that could buy such a friendship as ours! Sadly, most friendships have a price tag on them! Bob and I learned a long time ago. That there was No Price Tag on our friendship! Because we both had times that we owed the other rather large sums, that we were’t able to take care of as planned. But that never changed our friendship, warmth or trust for each other! A friendship so great! That there was No Price Tag on it! I could only wish to ever have another friend so great as this one! Bob was such a master level in so many subjects! Yet as humble as anyone could be! A real personal favorite that he did on me, was this! And I still laugh about it! I had experienced a trauma which caused an almost complete shutdown in my memory. Bob asked me to come help with a week long job for one of his daughters Company. Because of distance we hadn’t seen each other in person for a few years. And Bob was appearing to have age catch up with him. This greatly saddened me over that week! Because I watch this dear friend make 6 months worth of mistakes in 6 days! At the end of that week, I was downstairs in the hotel lobby. Almost with tears in my eyes, while thinking about my friends age catching up with him! Then it dawned on me! I went back upstairs, walked into his room, and said, “Job Well Done Master!” He burst out laughing! And so did I! He told me about a couple of times over the previous week that he almost busted out laughing as he was forcing me to catch the ball he kept dropping! And then Bob proceeded to take me on the 45 minute drive to LaGuardia airport. But did it in 25 doing 90+ weaving in and out of traffic the whole way in a KIA rental car! Bob hadn’t slipped one bit! But instead had taken me to school once again! Thank You So Much For All Of The Finest Memories My Dearest Friend!
Christopher Bradshaw says
Out of the 35 years Bob and I knew each other. The most important thing I witnessed happen in him! Was his path in learning to always seek direction along with giving all recognition and credit to Our Father In Heaven!