ROBERTS, Rex Albert: Died 1968
ROBERTS, VALE, ACKLEY, DRISKO, WINSLOW, MCINTIRE, LEFFLER, ELLIOTT, STINE
Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 10/6/2017 at 03:53:52
THE RECORD-REPUBLICAN, BONAPARTE, IOWA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1968Rex Roberts
Rex Albert Roberts the son of Albert Gustin and Emma Vale Roberts, was January 7, 193 at Bonaparte, Iowa. He passed away November 9, 1968, at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass., age 55 years, 10 months and two days.
He graduated from Bonaparte High School in 1927, from Parsons College in 1931, magna cum laude, and later received his masters degree from Iowa University. Rex taught one year in North English High School and later was professor of Speech at Hiram College in Ohio.
On the stage he performed with the Globe Shakespeare Repertory and at the Chicago, Cleveland and Dallas World Fairs. Recently he has appeared in the East in radio and television. Only two of these programs were seen in the middle west. Both were "To Tell The Truth."
Rex began his newspaper work in the Bonaparte Record office, owned by his parents. He was editor of his high school paper, of the Portfolio at Parsons College, was city editor of The Fairfield Daily Ledger for two years, and later worked for Donnelly Printing Company in Chicago.
He helped finance his college education by writing plays for Universal Production Co. of Fairfield and worked in the drafting department of Louden Machinery Co. He wrote folk plays for his graduate school thesis and published his first book. One of his latest is "The Complete Saint Bernard", a breed book. He owned his first Saint Bernard in 1920. His daughter Jessica showed the "best pair" in Madison Square Garden in 1963. In 1967 he was in Switzerland and served as master of ceremonies at the world union of Saint Bernard clubs.
Another book, "Your Engineered House", concerned his own home which he designed and built himself. The single-level wooden house, with the south side almost entirely made up of windows, is situated on the side of a forested hill. It is 240 feet long, has a single-sloped roof with large open rooms and post and beam construction. Separate from the main house is his drafting office, up the hill, and also a guest house.
Rex learned to play the clarinet when George Simmons led the Bonaparte town band. In 1926 he joined the Iowa National Guard band. At one time he sang basso with a Chicago opera company and later was soloist at the First Church in Boston, Mass. He also composed music and songs as a hobby for the remainder of his life.
During the war years he worked as an engineer in Chicago for the government. Moving east to work in Radiation Laboratory at the Mass. Institute of Technology, he visited military bases with the rank of colonel.
From 1945 to 1950 he was chief engineer of the Transducer Corp., in Boston. He drew the original block diagram for the DEW line. Later he worked with a New Hampshire machinery firm as chief designer. Since then he has been a consulting engineer with his headquarters in his drafting office near his home.
Rex was first married to Rosalie Ackley of Ottumwa, Iowa, and later to his present wife, Caroline Drisko of Columbia, Falls, Me. Survivors include his wife; 3 daughters, Bromley, Sheldon, and Jessica; a son, Bruce; a grandson, Christopher Johnson; a sister, Mrs. Vale Winslow of Bonaparte, Iowa; and one niece, Mrs. Anne Winslow McIntire of Belle Plaine, Iowa. Also surviving are his two first cousins, Gustin Leffler of Stockport, Iowa, and Mrs. Margaret Elliott Stine of Reno, Nev. He was preceded in death by his parents, and all six of his aunts and uncles. His uncle's wife, Mrs. Bruce R. Vale lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Funeral services were held Sunday, Nov. 10, at Groton, Mass.
Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book J, Page 70, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA
Van Buren Obituaries maintained by Rich Lowe.
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