James was born on April 6, 1923 in Madisonville, Kentucky.
For a short time, James served as a GI in the army, but upon his discharge he moved to Southern California to pursue a career in showbusiness. Under the name Jimmy Roberts, he was a tenor singer on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1954 to 1982, the entire life of the show. He was a favorite of the audience and often did duets with one of the show's Champagne Ladies, Norma Zimmer. His signature songs were "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and "My Old Kentucky Home." After the show ended, from 1983 to 1987, he worked with a talent outfit called "Young American Stars of Tomorrow" alongside host Jay Van Hall.
James was married twice. His first marriage was to a woman named Jane, and together they had two sons: Gary and Steven. Sometime after her death, James married a woman named Viola Hammonds, nicknamed Vi, in 1985. They were married until his death in 1999.
Portrait photographs and paintings of our loved ones and ancestors.
Before photos we had paintings of family members - most usually these were reserved for the well off. The era of modern photography began with the daguerreotype, in 1839. Since the advent of photogr...
I'm a Founder of AncientFaces and support the community answering questions & helping members make connections to the past (thus my official title of Founder & Content and Community Support ). For me, it's been a labor of love for over 20 years. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone should be remembered for generations to come.
I am 2nd generation San Jose and have seen a lot of changes in the area while growing up. We used to be known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (because the Valley was covered with orchards and there were many canneries to process the food grown here, which shipped all over the US) - now we have adopted the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley" and Apple, Ebay, Adobe, Netflix, Facebook, and many more tech companies are within a few miles of my current home in San Jose (including AncientFaces). From a small town of 25,000, we have grown to 1 million plus. And when you add in all of the communities surrounding us (for instance, Saratoga, where I attended high school, living a block from our previous Mayor), we are truly one of the big cities in the US. I am so very proud of my hometown. For more information see Kathy - Founder & Content and Community Director My family began AncientFaces because we believe that unique photos and stories that show who people are/were should be shared with the world.