Oscar William Roberts,III

Oscar William Roberts, III, 74, of Cleveland, passed away October 4, 2022.

Born October 15, 1947, he was the son of Oscar W. Roberts, Jr. and Louise Roberts Jewell.

Growing up in Carrollton, GA he attended city public school until finishing high school at

Darlington School, Rome, GA. He graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University

of West Georgia and did post-graduate work at Georgia Tech.

He will be deeply missed by his wife of 38 years, Bonita James Roberts, of Cleveland; son,

Oscar Roberts, IV of Sioux Falls, SD; daughter, Helen Roberts of Carrollton, GA and

granddaughter, Heather Roberts of Cleveland, GA.

Often described as an entrepreneur, Oscar began his career as a chemist in the metallurgy

division of Southwire. Before moving from Carrollton to Cleveland in 1982 he operated West

Georgia Kinder College day care center, SerCom computer software bureau, and served on

the Carrollton City Council. In Cleveland, he opened Cleveland Electronic Sales as a Radio

Shack Dealership, Merchant’s Press weekly newspaper, and Vintage Motorworks auto body

shop before turning his full attention to OsLou Properties commercial real estate

development. He served on the board of directors at West Georgia National Bank.

Oscar’s greatest passions were motorcycling, classic cars and traveling. When he wasn’t

driving old cars he spent hours researching and restoring them. His passion for buying and

fixing up antique cars continued through his lifetime. If it was broken, he could fix it, or at

least he would give it his best shot, although his “one hour” projects often evolved into a

several day or longer endeavor. Referring to one of his car projects, he had a magnetic sign

printed which said, “2262 Days & Restoration Continues . . .” This restoration instinct

naturally migrated from cars to a 1930’s Sinclair gas station in Auburn, Indiana where, once

renovated, he stored his classic car collection. He rebuilt a vintage Manley popcorn

machine because it brought back memories of his teenage years working at the Carrollton

Drive In. Enjoying ice cream from his diligently reconditioned retro White Mountain freezer

was a special memory for many friends.

He and Bonita enjoyed traveling and took many cross country car and motorcycle trips to

see the USA and Canada. Lifelong friendships resulted from meeting other enthusiasts on

these trips. International travels took him to England, Scotland, Ireland, China, Spain, and

Israel.

As evidence of his motoring interest, Oscar held lifetime memberships in the Auburn, Cord,

Duesenberg Car Club, the ACD Automobile Museum, and the National Auto and Truck

Museum. Other memberships included: Vintage Motor Car Club of America, Avanti Owners

Association, Maserati International, Porsche Club of America, Hudson Essex Terraplane

Club, Morgan Sports Car Club, Auburn Shifter’s Car Club, and BMW Motorcycle Owners of

America.

A celebration of Oscar’s life will be held at 1 pm on October 17 at Barrett Funeral Home

Chapel, Cleveland. Visitation will be held at the funeral home from 4 to 7 pm on October 16.

A light BBQ meal will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to

Concord Baptist Church Missions program (770-983-7272), Samaritan’s Purse

(samaritanspurse.org), or your favorite charity. Inurnment in Carrollton City Cemetery will

follow at a future date.

A live stream of the service can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/event/2488579

Barrett Funeral Home of Cleveland.