Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MARIEVA THOMAS ROBERTS
The
daughter and granddaughter of newspapermen, Marieva Thomas Roberts is herself a
pioneer in the newspaper field as the publisher of San Gabriel Valley’s first all-advertising
papers, a contribution to the growth and development of the area. Her father, Larue Thomas, bought The Garvey
Advertiser, an eighteen-month-old tabloid, in 1929. In 1933 due to the ill health of Mr. Thomas,
his daughter, Mrs. Roberts, became associated with the enterprise and changes
were affected. The size of the paper was
standardized and advertisements were printed exclusively. Within a few years three more papers, the
Alhambra Advertiser, the El Monte Advertiser, and the San Gabriel Valley
Advertiser, were established. The
combined circulation of these four papers covers the entire western San Gabriel
Valley. At the death of her father, Mrs.
Roberts was appointed publisher and trustee of the Advertiser Publications, a
position which she still holds. Her
office is at 8234 East Garvey Ave., South San Gabriel.
Marieva
Thomas Roberts was born May 30, 1910, at Jefferson, Grant County, Oklahoma, the
only daughter among the five children of Mervin Larue Thomas, Jr., and Lola
(Deck) Thomas. Mrs. Roberts’ father was
the youngest of four children of a pioneer father who homesteaded in Nebraska,
was owner and editor of the publication Red Cloud Chief, and late in the 19th
century settled at Round Pond, in Indian Territory, where he published a weekly
paper which later became the first legal weekly in Grant County. In 1908 Larue Thomas established and edited
the Jefferson Review, a weekly newspaper, which he disposed of in World War I
when he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He was a first lieutenant and flight
instructor in Texas and Florida. After
the Armistice he went back into the newspaper field and upon the retirement of
his father acquired the Grant County Vidette. In 1924 he bought and published the Sapulpa
Daily Times at Sapulpa, Oklahoma. In
June, 1929, he moved his family to California and in the same year purchased
the Garvey Advertiser. Larue Thomas died
on October 4, 1939, at the age of fifty-three.
Mrs.
Roberts’ mother, Lola (Deck) Thomas, was the eldest of thirteen children. At the age of six, she traveled with her
parents in a covered wagon from Iowa to the Indian Territory. The Deck’s participated in the land run of
September 16, 1893, known as the “Opening of the Cherokee Strip”. Mr. Deck, Mrs. Roberts’ grandfather,
continued his law practice, and later became the first County Judge of Grant
County after Oklahoma statehood was established. Round Pond became Pond Creek, Oklahoma. Mrs. Lola Thomas resides in South San
Gabriel.
Marieva
Thomas Roberts received her elementary schooling in Pond Creek, and was
graduated from Sapulpa High School, attended Oklahoma College for Women at
Chickasha and the Felt and Tarrant Comptometer School in Los Angeles.
Mrs.
Roberts was the second of five children.
The eldest brother, M. L., suffered a fatal heart attack in 1951. He was survived by his wife and four
children: Russell, Gilbert, Christine,
and Enid. The second brother of Mrs.
Roberts is Roy Thomas. He lives with his
wife Edith, daughter Beverly, and son Tom in South San Gabriel. Brother Lewis Thomas, affiliated with The
Advertiser Publications, lives with his wife Bernice and their two sons, James
and Richard, in Baldwin Park, as does his married daughter, Marieva Warren and
her family. The youngest brother of Mrs.
Roberts, Earl Thomas, owns and operates the Thomas Printing Firm in South San
Gabriel. He lives in Monrovia with his
wife Marcella, son Daren, and daughters Sharon and Denise. Mrs. Roberts’ three brothers, Roy, Lewis, and
Earl, are all United States Army veterans of World War II. Service in the Army goes back to the American
Revolution in Roberts’ family on the Thomas side.
Married
on January 25, 1939, at Orange, California, Mrs. Roberts now resides in Rosemead
with her husband, Carlyle “Bob” Roberts, who retired June 1, 1961, after
twenty-six years of service with the State of California Department of Highway
Patrol. Mr. Roberts is a United States
Navy veteran of World War II; a member of the Naval Reserve, Pasadena; Ramona
Masonic Lodge, Monterey Park; Al Malaikah Shrine, Los Angeles; San Gabriel
Valley Shrine Club; Association of California Highway Patrolmen; Santa Anita
Golf Club, and is an avid golfer.
When
Mrs. Roberts was ten years old she became of the youngest members of the
American Legion Auxiliary. On her
fifteenth birthday she was presented a membership in the Daughters of the
American Revolution by her aunt, Lela Thomas Grimes. Mrs. Roberts is a charter member of: San Gabriel Valley Noblettes, a philanthropic
club affiliated with the San Gabriel Valley Shrine Club; Les Guardienne, composed of wives of California Highway
Patrolmen, Norwalk; San Gabriel Business and Professional Women’s Club. She is also a member of: The First Christian Church; Ramona Chapter
Number 367 Order of the Eastern Star, Monterey Park; Makattan
Temple Number 12 Daughters of the Nile, Los Angeles; Long Beach Action Chapter
Dale Carnegie Alumni Association International.
People
and “doing” are the hobbies of Marieva Thomas Roberts.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 820-823, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES