Following Dreams of Joy: Tracey F. Johns

from Tidewater Times February 2021

Kent County

Following Dreams with Joy in Easton’s Williamsburg Neighborhood by Tracey F. Johns

Leethian, or Lee, Roberts, 66, lives and works on his family’s two-acre property in Easton’s Williamsburg neighborhood, near the home where he continues today working and dreaming with joy and love in his heart.

Roberts was the last born of six children to Mable (nee Williams) of Williamsburg and the Rev. James Thomas Roberts of Easton, Md. He was born premature as a lone-surviving triplet. The family’s home at that time was a one-room dwelling that once served as a chicken coop.

The outline of the original structure can still be seen as part of the home’s larger footprint today, which includes five major additions the family pieced together over the years while operating a yard maintenance business.

Lee Roberts in his workshop. 55

The Roberts’ homestead.

The home still relies on water from a well dug by the family. Roberts says he added indoor plumbing when he was 18 years old, in the 1970s.

His family used much of the land while Roberts was growing up to raise livestock that was harvested and shared with everyone in the Williamsburg neighborhood, oftentimes supplying an entire season of food so that no one went hungry.

Williamsburg is a small, historically black community intersected by US-50 and located in the area between Landing Neck Road, Bailey’s Neck Road and a creek that runs near the Talbot Evangelical Church. Roberts says the area was once referred to as “Stumptown” because of the stumps left by trees harvested when the land was used for lumber.

The neighborhood was later renamed after the Williams family, which at the time included Roberts’ mother and his Uncle Alec Williams, who was a lay speaker at the Williamsburg United Methodist Church. The area once had its own school before integration, with Williamsburg Elementary School housed in what became the church’s social hall.

Now the property is where Roberts lives and works as a master upholsterer and automobile interior artisan, helping classic automobile enthusiasts and everyday boat owners with newly upholstered headliners, seats, cushions and more.

Roberts says he learned to sew after his mother purchased an Atlas sewing machine from a traveling salesman and through the help of his sister’s friend Harriett Brown, who learned sewing in a home economics class in high school.

Roberts says he also learned to love versus hate through his devoutly faithful father, whose first church was the St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Easton, once

located on the footprint of where the Talbot County Detention Center is today. Roberts says his family spent time at church every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and as an all-day Sunday tradition.

Love leads and carries through everything Roberts believes and does today. This includes a deep devotion to his higher power, a life led following and sharing the 12 steps of recovery, and his work with Celebrate Recovery at Kent Island United Methodist Church.

“I don’t like religion because I feel it separates us,” said Roberts of his beliefs today. “I do feel we each have a higher power, however, and that power will always lead each of us in the right direction.”

Roberts also has hopes and dreams for the future, despite losing loved ones ~ including stepdaughter Naomi by an overdose and his wife, local artisan Lou Anne Farlow Roberts, who was hit by a drunk driver while crossing US 50. Both died in 2013.

His dreams include creating a village of tiny houses on his property for people recovering from addiction, along with re-outfitting and operating a food truck, or ‘wagon’ as he calls it, with his good friend and business partner, James Carter. He says the food truck will be named La Quick and will be used to prepare and serve a menu including cheesesteaks, beach fries and more.

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Whether Roberts is looking back on his family’s history or forward to his dreams, he consistently finds reward in bringing joy to people and helping them forget about their worries. He’s also deeply patriotic.

“I have American privilege,” says Roberts. “There’s no other place on

Earth that I would rather reside.”

Tracey Johns is a storyteller, engaging local, regional and national audiences through her words and photography. She has worked in communications, marketing and business management for more than 30 years, including non-profit leadership. Tracey’s work is focused on public and constituent relations, along with communication strategies, positioning and brand development and project management.