Born: June 14, 1909

Died:

Married: December 24, 1935

Children: Shermon Earl, born October 11, 1936, Betty Rachel, born June 27, 1943

"He taught me many lessons without saying a word." Shermon E. (Robby) Roberts, Jr.

Virgel Posey (Jim) Roberts was born in the Lusk Community. He started school at the Lusk School which was located about a mile South of the Old Lusk Cemetery. Early on he decided that school was not for him and he did not finish the second grade. His mother died in 1918 and he went to live with his sister, Jenniece, and her husband, Josh at the same location that Joann now lives.

The next big event in his life was meeting a beautiful young lady that lived right down the road on the Frank Stewart estate. They were married on Christmas eve, 1935 by Mr. Ira Carlisle. Herbert and Alma Roberts were their witnesses. After the ceremony, they were served coconut cake and milk by Mrs. Laura Carlisle. This event was relived 50 years later with a gathering of family and friends at Grace Chapel Assembly of God Church. Shermon and Betty have video and still pictures of this event.

Soon after marriage, he and his wife moved to Land, Alabama to work at a sawmill. At this time he started to work in carpentry, which he was to be involved in the rest of his life. After a short stay there, they moved to a two room house in front of the old Wimberly house in the Wimberly Community. Their first born, Shermon, was born in this house in 1936. From there he moved his family to Nettles Valley on Tallawampa Creek in the Pleasant Hill Community to work at Nettles Sawmill. His next move was back to the two room house at Wimberly. He then built a house across the road from the Wimberly Methodist Church. In 1943 he bought land and built a house in the Chapel Hill Community. Betty was born in 1944. After the struggle of sending Shermon through college, he built the house where Betty now resides.

Jim's working career starting out in the logging industry. He first started out working at sawmills and later had his own truck for cutting and hauling timber. Early in the 1950's he went into carpentry full time. He worked on several locks and dams, the paper mill at Naheola, Meridian Air Station, and help build several houses. In order to work the big jobs, he had to join the union. To become a first class carpenter, he had to pass a test. His question was to explain the Pythagorean Theorem. Well, not exactly. Actually, the question was "How do you square a corner?" He answered it correctly and the rest is history.

As a young single man, Jim Roberts was the community fiddler. He played for the community barn dances. He sat in his chair with a pint of white lightning on the floor beside him and a package of Bull Durham smoking tobacco is his shirt pocket. He would fiddle, drink the moonshine, and smoke his cigarettes all night long. On the day that he proposed to Willie Hazel Moore, he gave up the fiddling, and along with it, the white lightning and Bull Durham. He never took another sip of an alcoholic drink nor smoked another cigarette as long as he lived. He also gave up fiddling until he accepted Christ as his Savior at the age of 62. He again took up his fiddle, but this time played to the Glory of his Lord and Savior. From the time that he was saved as long as he was able, every service at Grace Chappell Assembly of God found him with his fiddle joining in making a joyful sound unto the Glory of God. He could also be heard on Radio Station WPRN every Sunday morning for an extended period of time playing for his singing group.