Rawles Pliny Roberts, Jr.

Rawles Pliny Roberts, Jr. of Groesbeck, passed away Friday, July 12, 2024, at Groesbeck LTC.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, July 21, 2024, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel. 

Graveside services will be conducted at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas with Pastor Jon Honea officiating, followed by honors being rendered by the US Navy.

Rawles was born March 1, 1959, in Portsmouth, VA to Rawles Sr. and Maragaret C. (Adams) Roberts. The family lived in various places while his father was in the Navy, and settled in San Antonio, where he graduated from South Side High School in San Antonio in 1977. 

While in high school, Rawles worked in the family flower business in San Antonio and was a talented designer and enjoyed his time working alongside his parents. His mother said he was highly talented. 

Rawles had met Robbie Foster at a dance in Galveston while he was still in high school. He joined the U.S. Navy in September 1977, which delayed their marriage until September 1979. They were married at the base in Philadelphia where he was stationed, and lived in Wilmington, Delaware. 

He served overseas in the Mediterranean and west coast of the USA as well as in Japan. He was a gunner’s mate (GMG) and was in charge of taking care of the guns aboard the USS Adams, Kennedy, and Hewitt. Rawles was honorably discharged in March 1986 and returned home to San Antonio where his wife and children were living. 

Rawles and Robbie and children moved to the Dallas area, and he and his brother Paul drove trucks in Rockwall and the Dallas area. The family moved from there to Missouri, where he drove a truck for Prime Trucking of Springfield, MO. He was very proud of his exemplary driving record with over one million miles of no accidents, no tickets. 

In Bunker, MO, he and his wife, Dad, and sons raised horses, with his sons helping him train horses.  He was an excellent farrier.

Then family moved to Hammond, Indiana where he attended evangelical college. He attended the First Baptist Church and extended his service by driving a bus to Lower Wacker Dr. in Chicago to pick up the homeless to serve them meals and transportation to church. He was proud of his service to the community in these efforts.

After they moved to Salem, MO, Rawles did custom hay baling, drove a school bus, and enrolled in the University of Missouri at Rolla, MO. He graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in history, specializing in archiving, with a minor in engineering, specializing in explosives. 

His wife said he was always working until moving to Texas after the death of his father in 2011. They settled in Limestone County, and Rawles was medically retired after an extremely active life in many parts of the country. 

He is preceded in death by his oldest brother, Gerald Roberts; father, Rawles Roberts, Sr.; niece, Mandy Carpenter; nephew, Gregory Gibson.

He is survived by his wife, Robbie Roberts of Groesbeck; three sons and daughters-in-law, Rawles Pliny Roberts, III and wife Rachel of Oklahoma City, OK, Sean Everett of Oklahoma City, and Charles West and wife Tiffany of Oklahoma City; grandchildren, Alexander and Cheyanne Roberts of Oklahoma City,Leigh-Anne and husband Justin Smith of Oklahoma City, OK, and Justin Reeves of Richmond, VA; great grandchildren, Wyatt and Oliver Smith. 

 He is also survived by his mother, Margaret Roberts of Groesbeck; sisters, Robin Delaney of Pennsylvania and Susan Payton of San Antonio; brothers, James G. Roberts and wife Rita of Charleston, SC and Paul A. Roberts of Groesbeck; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and extended family, and his beloved dog, Iris.