Lt. James Thomas Roberts

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen (Morgan) Roberts; his children Jason Morgan Roberts and Mary Rose Roberts; his brother Tim Roberts and sister Marsha Spaniel; his brother- and sister-in-laws Ed Morgan, Keith Spaniel and Penny Roberts; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Marshall Thomas Roberts, his mother Mary Rose Roberts (Kamarauskas), and his brother John and sister Mary Margaret.

James attended St. David’s Catholic Grammar School and De LaSalle High School. He was a Chicago Park District lifeguard on Oak Street Beach; a clerk at the city’s Union Stock Yards meat packing district; a soldier in the U.S. Army during Vietnam where he taught survival swimming skills; a mainframe computer operator for the Circuit Court of Cook County; an owner of The Hideout tavern in Bridgeport; a Chicago Fire Department (CFD) firefighter and a lieutenant with the Fire Prevention Bureau, later returning to the CFD as a lieutenant at Engine 8 in Chinatown. He also was a lifelong member of the Hamburg Club in Bridgeport and beach commissioner in charge of lifeguards for the Village of Michiana, Michigan.

Family and friends will gather for a Memorial Visitation on October 27, 2018 from 10 a.m. until time of Memorial Mass, 11:00 a.m. at St. Barnabas Catholic Church, 10134 South Longwood Drive, Chicago.

Interment private.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in his name to the Michiana Shores (Indiana) Volunteer Fire Department at 911 El Portal Dr, Michiana Shores, IN 46360 or (219) 872-1788.

Arrangements were entrusted to the Kerry Funeral Home & Cremation Care Center, Palos Heights.