Roberts III, John Clarke   	 
Capt., U.S. Navy, Ret.

AUSTIN - John Clarke Roberts III, Captain, U.S. Navy, retired, formerly of 
Alexandria, Virginia and Longview, Texas died peacefully on June 10, 2007, 
at his home in Austin.

Mr. Roberts was born September 14, 1917, in Crowell, Foard County, Texas, 
to the late John Clarke Roberts Jr., and Nellie Belle Armstrong Roberts 
formerly of Denton. The Armstrong family settled on a farm in Gladewater, 
Gregg County, in 1848. The family burial ground on the west edge of the 
Armstrong farm evolved into today's Rosedale Cemetery Association.

Mr. Roberts was related to many original settlers of the Longview - 
Gladewater area: the Armstrongs, the Fishers, the Littles and many others. 
His grandparents were John Kittle Armstrong Jr., and Anna Elizabeth Little. 
He is the nephew of the late Mrs. Earle Armstrong Young McCreight of 
Longview and the late Thomas M. Armstrong of Gladewater.

Mr. Roberts was a 1939 graduate of the University of Texas and a 1946 
graduate of University of Texas Law School.

In May 1942, Mr. Roberts married Austin native Connie Wilson. During World 
War II, he was a gunnery officer on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington 
and the battleships U.S.S. New Mexico and U.S.S. Wisconsin, serving in many 
campaigns and battles of the Pacific War. In the last days of the war, he 
commanded a company of naval infantry in the Naval Landing Force that seized 
Yokosuka naval base.

After the war, Mr. Roberts specialized in naval and international law, and 
served as senior legal officer and naval judge advocate at several naval 
bases. He was Assistant Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy before 
retiring in 1964. He practiced private law for several years in the 
Washington, D.C. area, before returning to Texas in 1976. He was a member 
of the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar.

Mr. Roberts is survived by his wife of more than 65 years, Connie Wilson 
Roberts of Austin, Texas; four children, John C. Roberts IV and wife, Betty 
of Denton, Texas, Brian Wilson Roberts and wife, Maria of Portland, Oregon, 
Susan Roberts Sullivan of Huntsville, Alabama and Kathryn Nell Roberts of 
Austin; and five grandchildren, Court Sullivan, Carla Roberts, Stephen 
Mosty Roberts, Alexander Roberts and Meredith Sullivan.

Funeral services were held on Saturday, June 16, 2007, in Austin, followed 
by burial in Austin Memorial Park.

Arrangements were by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., 
Austin, TX 78705; (512) 452-8811.

Obituary and guestbook online at wcfish.com.

Published in the Longview News-Journal on 6/19/2007.