William Guy Roberts

My father was in the army and stationed in Fort Benning, Ga. He and my mother had a little place off the base that they called home. While they were there they got a terrier mix dog and named it Tiny boy, when they returned to California they brought Tiny boy with them.

My dad owned a 49 Ford and he took my mother to Quartsite Arizona to get married. He wanted to be married before he left for bootcamp.

He bought a three bedroom, one bath house in Norwalk, California. It was a brand new new home. He and his wife moved into it and started their family.

His first son was born on Jan 16, 1956.

His second child was born, a baby girl that he named Cynthia Rose.

There were only three children that dad really talked about growing up that I remember and they are Cynthia, Guy, and Drewanne. I know there are other brothers and sisters also but I do not know their names. We also have a "baby" brother, Billy, that turned 17 in June this year, he is one year older than my oldest daughter Kendra. Dad roared with laughter about that until the tears flowed!! Billy, as far as I know, is still living with his mom in Washington state. I have fraternal twin brothers, Trevor and Tracey. Trevor lives with his wife Amy in California. Trevor helped dad move from WA to WY in 2005 when his health started to decline more rapidly and he needed more assistance. Tracey and his 3 children live in Wyoming. Dad was living with Tracey and his family when he passed away.

I remember when Guy came to Moorcroft, WY with his wife, I believe her name was Gina, and that was when she was pregnant with a daughter I think they named Crystal?? I think they visited the summer after Drewanne came. I remember they had 2 dogs that dad almost shot for chasing the chickens...LOL...I remember we had to keep them locked up in the shop. Dad loved his guns I think he probably shot anything that even came onto the property...he even accidentally shot one of my mom's pidgeons boy was she mad at him!! I swear her red hair actually lit on fire that day lol He loved to pull pranks on her and then he would laugh soooooo hard tears flowed!!

Dad married my mother, Joyce Geis, on May 1, 1975 in Cody, WY. They moved to a trailer in Rosette, WY where Dad worked at Amax (the coal mine there). I was born October 3, 1976 in Gillette, WY. My parents then bought 10 acres a few miles from Moorcroft, WY, within site of Keyhole Reservoir and moved a trailer onto the property. The trailer later burned to the ground due to an error in judgement leaving a torch under the trailer to thaw out frozen water pipes. It was replaced with another trailer until the house could be built. My brothers Trevor and Tracey, fraternal twins, were born June 2, 1978 in Spearfish, SD. My father built the house that we lived in over a period of a few years but it was never completely finished. We lived in Moorcroft for about 6 or 7 years, and dad worked at Homin Diesel in Gillette at that point and received his deisel mechanic certification there. In 1980 he then started his own business as a franchise of Mac Tools driving back and forth to Gillette every day to sell tools in his truck. He won salesman of the year one year with Mac Tools. During this time dad was taking classes and trying to get his pilot's license. As a child this was one of the highlights of our childhood because dad would get the cessna in the air, on the flight plan, then hand over the wheel so that we could tip the wings and go up and down quickly, mimicking a good roller coaster ride, if mom was with us she would scream histerically and he would laugh at her antics. We had some awesome memories in that little Cessna!! Then for some reason, possibly because all the money at that point was centered on the Commercial pilot's license, the Mac Tools business failed, things started to slide downhill, the house he had built mostly with his own hands was repossessed by the bank and the 10 acres with it. We moved to a trailer at a junkyard that friends who had moved to Helena, MT had vacated in Gillette, WY in 1985 where dad worked at the Campbell County Bus Barn as a diesel mechanic. Unfortunately, dad failed one of the major tests to get his pilot's license, the "hood" test, and the commercial pilot's license was never obtained. No more fun flights after that...We then moved to Hilger, MT and then Heath, MT in 1986 for a total of six months while dad worked with a construction company as a diesel mechanic, then moved to Elma, WA in the summer 1986 to live with the same friends who had moved to Helena, MT from Gillette, Jack and Vicky Grewell. Dad found a job with a logging company as a diesel mechanic working on the logging trucks. We moved to Oakville, WA when Aunt Eulala (dad's sister who was a real estate broker at the time) found a house for us to buy. We lived near Oakville at Gibson Creek until our parents seperated in the summer of 1989, later divorced in 1991. At that point Dad had already moved to Kodiak, Alaska in the spring of 1989 with his new girlfriend Jolene and her two daughters Sarah and Shannon. Billy was born in June 1992 to Dad and his wife Jolene by then. Dad and Jolene were only briefly married and dad gained custody of Billy in their divorce. Dad and Billy lived together in Centralia, WA until dad had a series of strokes (no one really knew how many because he did not go to the hospital until one of his friends found him in that condition and physically took him to the hospital) in April of 2002. He had been previously diagnosed with Diabetes and was on medications but did not take them as regularly as he probably should have and his diet had not changed as it probably should have either. He loved good flavorful food and a variety of it!!

Sandy and Don Soesbe, other long time family friends that had moved with us basically to WA from the Gillette, WY area, called mom to tell us what had happened and that dad was in the hospital. I called him to find out how he was and he seemed quite angry that we knew he was in the hospital, that we were worried about him, and did not want to speak to me further. I tried on several occasions to talk to him after that but he was very short, and eventually I gave up talking to him myself. Instead I talked to my brothers to find out how he was because they still had very good relationships with him. Eventually, Jolene got custody of Billy back due to dad's inability to take care of him anymore because dad's health had rapidly begun to decline. The strokes and diabetes were beginning to have a tremendous toll on dad's health. Trevor went out to WA and physically moved dad to Tracey's in WY in 2005 because dad had reached the point that he needed assistance and could not completely care for himself anymore. After he passed away,it was decided to cremate his remains as dad had requested. His remains were spread near Tensleep, WY.

I have been looking for a long time, in fact many years for the whereabouts of my brothers father, William Guy Roberts.  They only knew him as very small children.  I lived with Bill as a young teenager.  My mother married him in the Catholic Church and then had 2 boys, William David and Kenneth Patrick.  Needless to say my brothers have wondered about their birth father.  I have forwarded this info onto them and hope it brings them the peace they deserve.  They will be amazed to hear they have brothers and sisters.  Feel free to contact me.  I knew Bill Roberts pretty well, at least from a teen stand point.  I knew his sisters Eulala and Wanda and spent time with his parent's Guy and Ada.  I wish God's blessings on all of the children of William Guy Roberts and hope the effort will be made to reach Billy and Kenny. 

Sincerely,

a one time step daughter

I don't know whether to be happy because I know more about my father.Or sad because of the finality of knowing he has passed.Today I met my father and for me today in all reality he died.My hope now is that one of you might contact me so I can get to know him better through your experiences.To me its so ironic that for years he was only a few hundred miles fom me.He was only a few hours away when he died.My name is William David Roberts and this man was my father.My mother divorced from him when I was 4 years old.The only thing I remember of him was a white pick up[I'm not even sure thats even real] I have a picture of him on a camping trip when he was real young.And an old shotgun that my Uncle Dave said belonged to him and maybe even belonged to his father.I will post pictures soon.If anyone would like to share with me my email address is dodgehemiparts@hotmail.com and would gladly give you my phone number if you wanted to have a conversation with me.I hope all you read this and help me to love and understand Dad like you do.

Bill Roberts