Remembering Edgar Roberts

Published 2:00 pm Friday, September 11, 2020

VALDOSTA – Edgar Roberts achieved, and survived, a great deal in life.

He was a former Lowndes County commissioner. 

He served as pastor of Thomas Chapel Baptist Church for about a quarter of a century. 

He was a business owner – J. Edgar Roberts Construction, and Scott and Roberts Mortuary.

He walked away from a plane crash in the 1980s. 

He survived the brutal Vietnam battle of Khe Sanh — a hell Roberts once described as “3,500 of us went in but only 500 of us came back.” 

He was wounded in Vietnam and received a Purple Heart.

He had a kidney transplant a few years ago.

Earlier this month, Roberts passed away. He was 74.

Roberts was the sixth child of the late John and Fannie Mae Haynes Roberts, according to his full obituary.

Growing up in the Jones Settlement community, he attended Westside High School. He played football. He graduated in 1963. He attended Temple Business School in Washington, D.C., and earned a degree in business administration.

He served on several Valdosta and Lowndes County boards and organizations throughout his life.

Running successfully for District 1 Lowndes County commissioner in 2004, he said, “The community has been so good to me. It provided me a place to live, work and a place to raise and educate my children. I am ready for a better day and I know I can make that happen.”

The Marine Corps emblem led to a chance encounter that saved Roberts’ life a few years ago.

In 2016, Roberts wore a Marines cap, seated eating breakfast at the Valdosta Cracker Barrel. John Branson noticed the cap. His son served in the Marines as an officer. 

Branson, an Anderson, Ind., police officer, struck up a conversation with Roberts. They talked about their lives and Roberts shared he’d been on dialysis for several years and was seeking a kidney transplant.

Branson offered Roberts one of his kidneys.

A promise he kept in 2017.

“He’s an awesome person,” Roberts said of Branson in a 2017 interview. “We didn’t know each other. We’re different people. He’s a white guy. I’m a black guy. He’s Catholic. I’m Baptist. He’s from Indiana. I’m from Georgia. … Now, we’re friends. And what he’s about to do …”

Roberts was married to wife Mary Catherine for 54 years. They had three daughters and two grandchildren.

Roberts’ graveside services were scheduled for noon Saturday, Sept. 12, Pallbearer Cemetery. Private burial Monday, Sept. 14, Tallahassee, Fla.