Roberts, Thomas C.

Description

Thomas Charles Roberts was born on March 24, 1917, in New Hartford, New York, to Emma Louise Thurston and Edward Gronway Roberts. He was raised and educated in New Hartford and was a graduate of West Winfield High School. He then graduated from the New York State College for Teachers (SUNY Albany). He taught for two years at Liverpool High School before moving to Rye.

He married Miss Grace Billie Castiglione June 28, 1941 in Mamaroneck, NY. The bride was a graduate of Mamaroneck High School and New York State College for Teachers. She was a commercial teacher at Mamaroneck Senior High School. Thomas was also graduated from the New York State College for Teachers, where he was a member of the Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity. He started teaching mathematics at the Rye High School in the fall of 1941. Thomas and his wife would move to Rye and lived at 578 Forest Ave.

In that fateful year of 1941, Thomas was settling to his teaching career when war broke out. After completing his first year at Rye, he left his position and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Thomas served as an officer Navy during World War II.

Four High School Teachers Serving With Armed Forces

Thomas Roberts, formerly of the Mathematics department, was commissioned an ensign in the Navy in June, studied at Harvard University during the summer, and is now an instructor on the Prairie State, a naval training ship stationed in the Hudson at New York.

Friday, September 25, 1942 THE RYE CHRONICLE

Thomas was the captain of a sub chaser stationed in Key West, Fla. He was also captain of a patrol craft in Fort Pierce, Fla. He retired as a commander in the Navy Reserve.

After the war he and his wife moved to Port Chester and started a family. He returned to Rye High School and resumed his teaching career. He was made chairman of the mathematics department in 1964 and unanimously approved by The Board of Education as assistant principal of Rye High School in 1968. He retired in 1972 after a career spanning four decades at RHS.

Thomas was very active in community and professional organizations, including the American Legion Post in Port Chester and was an executive council member of the Westchester County Teachers Association for three years. He would live in Port Chester most of his life and as an educator and also a real-estate agent in Rye. He moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1972, then settled in Merritt Island.

Thomas Charles Roberts, a former Port Chester resident, died February 22, 1994 at his home in Merritt Island, Fla. He was 77.

At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife of 52 years, Grace Billie Roberts; a son, Dr.
Edward G. of Chelmsford, Mass.; a daughter, Barrie Lynn Roberts of Tampa, Fla.; three sisters, Sally Arcuri of Utica, Eleanor Young of New Hartford and Betty Wilbur of Morgan Hill, Calif.; and five grandchildren.

Thomas was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.