Bob Warren Roberts

1931 - 2024

Bob Warren Roberts
08/31/1931 - 04/23/2024
Bob Warren Roberts, affectionately known as "The Phantom" so named by his wife, Warner, was born on August 31, 1931, in Hot Springs, Ark., to Clifford Warren Roberts and Hester Young Roberts. During his early years, he moved with his parents and older sister, Mary Jo, around the entire country as his father followed construction work. After he left Arkansas, he moved to many different states and then landed in Tennessee where his father, as manager of the H. K. Ferguson Company, was the first person to build and operate an atomic bomb project. The next and final stop for the family was back to Texas where Bob made Houston his permanent home in 1946.
After graduating from Lamar High School, Bob was proud to go to Texas A & M until leaving school to earn more money for college. Soon he was drafted by the Army during the Korean War. His entrance exam was the second highest ever documented at his Basic Training Camp. There were three sections on the test in which Bob obtained perfect scores in Math and Pattern Analysis. After boot camp, he was sent to Japan for his tour of duty. Because of his extraordinarily high IQ, he was offered an Officer's Candidate School Commission and declined. Nevertheless, he was always put in positions of authority; he was one of only three people out of 40,000 who were not sent to Korea from the Fort Belvoir Basic Training Center. Instead, the Army kept Bob in Leader's School and in Special Services (which was actually secret service work) in a position of planning defense maneuvers due to the possible invasion of Japan by North Korea. He had top security clearance. Later, Mensa International, the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher, offered him an automatic membership because of his exceptional IQ. He accepted, but decided to pass the test for good measure as well. Bob also loved ping pong and while on his Army duty in Japan, he had the opportunity to play the champion of Japan. In front of a very large crowd, Bob played his best game ever, and to everyone's surprise WON the game!
Upon completion of his service in the Army, Bob graduated from the University of Houston. It was here that he met his future wife, Marye Faye Warner and subsequently had what he considered to be his greatest achievement: his two beloved sons, Bob Warren Roberts, Jr. and Cliff Lee Roberts.
As an entrepreneur from the age of five, Bob started work by selling cigars and scrap paper from his wagon, later mowing lawns, selling magazines, delivering Green Sheets, and then managing a paper route. By the age of 16, he had bought one car and traded it for an acre of land which was the beginning of his real estate business to come. Soon he started Roberts Fire Equipment Company in which he sold and serviced fire extinguishers. At the same time, he was also buying and selling companies and liquidating their contents. Several years later, he started his real estate company in earnest called Gulf Coast Real Estate Auction Company (GCREA). The company quickly became one of the largest syndications of property in Texas, buying and selling some of the largest parcels of property such as The Allen Center in Houston and across Texas, such as a 6,000-acre island in Matagorda Bay and the 100,000-acre Ninety-Six West Texas Ranch where Geronimo roamed. He was always proud of the fact that not one of his 1,800 investors lost money while he was President of GCREA.
After GCREA, Bob enjoyed spending time with his son, Cliff at his law office. For 25 years, they would go to lunch almost every day and discuss certain cases and then look at the upcoming real estate foreclosures together. There were several occasions where they bought properties in the area just for fun to fix them up for sale or lease.
Bob also coached his sons' Little League teams every year throughout their young years. No amount of time or effort was too great when his sons or family were involved. From coaching his sons to attending every one of their baseball, basketball, football, or soccer games, he was there. He even attended over 300 of his grandsons' games in Houston. His family was his life.
Bob also loved the fights. The Golden Gloves, championship boxing and even MMA fights were high on his list. Back in the day you would also catch him watching every Bruce Lee movie as well.
H-TOWN sports were also a must-see priority. He would religiously pull for the Rockets, the Astros, and the Texans, and was even known to place a wager or two on his favorite teams. One of his biggest joys in life was his annual trip with his sons, Cliff and Bob Jr. to Las Vegas for a weekend trip where the three would sit in the MGM suite watching and betting on as many games as possible in 72 hours.
Bob also found great pleasure in joining his father in his passion for genealogy. Each week for many years, you could find Bob and Clifford at the Clayton Library researching the Roberts family history almost back to the start of time with many kings and queens discovered. After his father's death, Bob arranged his schedule so that he could care for his mother and take her to lunch every day. This continued for eight years, until her death.
While totally comfortable conversing with anyone of any stature, Bob preferred to be with his family and a few treasured friends, hence his wife labeling him "The Phantom." Other names conceived by his son Cliff were "Wimpo" and "Daddio" and then came the nickname "GDaddy" conceived by his grandchildren.
Bob never met a plain hamburger, beef sandwich, pork chop, or steak that he did not like and, he would usually wash it down with a cold glass of whole milk. Peanut butter crackers, biscuits, and coke were always in the mix. He absolutely loved his daughter-in-law's chili and apple pie. Angie loved preparing and serving these dishes to Bob as he was relaxing in the "Tiki Hut" watching his favorite watermelon balloon spin under the pool waterfalls.
Possibly one of Bob's greatest attributes, next to being the solid-as-a-rock loyal, loving best family-man, is his quick wit and sense of humor. Because he was always ready with a joke that is applicable to the situation at hand, he had been voted (by the family) as the funniest man in the world.
Bob was preceded in death by his father and mother, Clifford and Hester Roberts; and sister, Mary Jo Roberts Matteson. His surviving family members include: his wife, Warner; and son, Bob Warren Roberts, Jr. and his wife, Kristin; grandsons, Bob Warren Roberts, III and Michelle Michael, Ryan David Roberts and Valerie Rodden, John Luke Roberts; and son, Cliff Lee Roberts and his wife, Angie; and grandsons, Lee Warren Roberts and Cliff Warner Roberts; and by his extended family members: Rex and Paula Goodson, Renee Abel, Jackson Abel, Ellie Abel, Kate Abel, Caroline Abel, Rachel Abel, Anna and Esther Abel, Pam and Michael Hobbs, Tara Hobbs and Wil Turner, III, Clara Turner Hobbs, Michael Turner, Lisa and Mark Laverty, Gavin and Logan Laverty, Quinn Laverty, Kelly and Jason Whittington, Madison Whittington and Grant Phifer, Jax Whittington, Jacob and Tori Dodd, John Dodd, Whit Matteson, and sweet Marta "Micaela" Pena.
Private burial services will occur at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home in The Abby Mausoleum followed by a private "Celebration of a Great Man's Life." Anyone wishing to donate might find someone in need - whether a friend or stranger - and give them support in some way. The Phantom would like that a lot.
We will be forever grateful for the lessons learned from him including love, loyalty, integrity, the gift of laughter, and even how to bet on games. We will love and appreciate him all the days of our lives and beyond.