William Henry Adams is the youngest son of 9 children born to William Hamilton and Delia Clarise (Murphy) Adams. William was born in Central Lake, Antrim County; Michigan on July 21, 1901 only three months and 26 days after his father William Hamilton passed away from heart failure. William spent his early years growing up in Central Lake raised by his widowed mother and four older sisters; Alda, Edna, Dora, and Georgia. His twin brothers, Ned and Ted died in infancy just three years before Bill was born. Bill lost his older brother Howard at age 5 and older brother Royal at age 16. William Junior loved sports and was an accomplished baseball player, ice skater and snow skier. He had a beautiful baritone voice and loved to sing. As a young man he was offered a job with the Metropolitan Opera in New York but was unable to accept due to family obligations. He never had a music lesson but could play a piano and organ by ear. He had a special talent for woodworking and created many works of art.

William met Mary Genevieve Smith through friends while she was working as a stenographer at the Wexford County Court house in Cadillac Michigan. He was employed as a butter maker at Swift and Company in Cadillac. On May 16, 1926 Reverend S. Arthur Cook married them in the First Methodist Church. Bill and Mary had four children; William Harry Adams (born February 24, 1927 and died at childbirth), Daniel Hamilton Adams (born November 5, 1929), William Howard Adams (born August 20, 1936), and Timothy James Adams (born June 15, 1945).

Raising a family during the depression was not easy. Bill lost his job at the creamery and for a short time out of necessity he and Mary stayed with and worked for close friends. In 1930 they moved to Urbana Illinois where he tried his hand at raising chickens, worked as a foreman for the WPA, and with the city parks district, supervising and organizing games and sports activities for teenagers. Ten years later during the war years he and Mary migrated to Rantoul Illinois where he found employment as a civil service worker at Chanute Air Force Base and lived off base in government housing (Chapman Court). A few years later he was hired by Johnson’s Hardware Company, which he enjoyed greatly. His last position was Manager of Mitchell Court, a one hundred-unit housing project. He was a charitable person and a model citizen who actively participated in city government.

On June 3, 1963 while sitting in a lawn chair visiting with his son he put his head back and died of heart failure, as did his father before him. To some he was perceived as a hard man but to those who knew him he was an honest, reliable fair man with pride, integrity, values, and strong convictions. To his friends and family he was a hardworking, devoted husband and loving father. Inside he was an extremely complex, sensitive and gentleperson who constantly worried about the welfare of his family. For a person who only attained an eighth grade education he was a graduate scholar of the greatest college on earth, life. There can be no greater honor or tribute!