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James Martin
“Bob” Roberts, 77, of Huntington, WV, died Friday April 10,
2015 at his residence. Funeral service will be conducted at noon
Thursday April 16, 2015 at Crossroads United Methodist Church with
Pastors Joe Hill & Bill DeMoss officiating. Burial will be in Ridgelawn
Memorial Park. Bob was born July 4, 1937 in Washington, DC, a son of the
late Tyre McCullough & Gladys May Roberts. He attended the University of
Kentucky and graduated from Rio Grande College with a degree in business
management. Bob began his career in 1959 at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber
Company where he worked for more than thirty years, holding a number of
positions in a number of states across the country. He began his career
as a lab technician at Goodyear’s Apple Grove, WV plant. He worked his
way up to management and was later named Manager of Human Resources. In
1977, he was given the distinction of helping to establish a new and
innovative labor-relations model implemented by corporate management at
a brand new tire and rubber production plant located in Lawton,
Oklahoma. He was then asked to move to Ashboro, North Carolina, to help
implement a similar labor relations model in the Goodyear plant there.
In 1985, Goodyear asked Bob to move to corporate headquarters in Akron,
Ohio, where he was put in charge of labor contract negotiations
throughout the United States. In 1987, Bob transferred back to
Goodyear’s Apple Grove location as Manager of Industrial and Community
Relations. Bob retired, after more than thirty years of service to the
company, and later went back to work as Manager of Industrial and
Community Relations for Shell Oil and then Akzo Nobel at the same Apple
Grove location. After more than forty-two years of service to the tire,
rubber, and chemical manufacturing industries, Bob fully retired in
2001. Bob was a member of the Crossroads United Methodist Church where
he was the chair of the Staff Parish Committee, and Vice-President of
the Board of Trustees. He also served as President of the Huntington
Downtown Lions Club as was President of the Mason County Chamber of
Commerce. He was named by the Governor of Kentucky as a Kentucky Colonel
and was a fanatically dedicated and loyal Kentucky Wildcats fan (“Go
Cats!!”). Bob was devoted to his family and took great pleasure in
spending time with his two daughters and grandchildren. He was a loving
husband, caring and supportive father, and enthusiastic grandfather.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara “Bobbi Anne” O’Neal Roberts, two
daughters, Rebecca Roberts-Malamis and husband Peter of New Hope, PA;
Toni Roberts Blackwelder and husband Glenn of Fishers, IN; one sister,
Betty Nunley of Ashland, KY; three grandchildren, Basil “Billy” Malamis
and Rachel, and Ryan Blackwelder; and a niece and nephew, Terry Sergent
and Sam Nunley both of Ashland, KY. Friends may visit with the family
after 11:00 AM at the Crossroads United Methodist Church, in Huntington,
WV on Thursday. Chapman’s Mortuary in Huntington is assisting the
family. |
