A retiree of the United States Army Reserve, he died at the Clairemont Nursing Home in Eau Claire. He was the son of Hazel (Burlingame) Adams and William E. Adams. He was raised in Racine by a loving and caring maternal grandmother because of the premature death of his mother. He graduated from the William Horlick High School in 1940. During his teen years, he was a bus boy at Green Meadows ice cream parlor in Racine. After graduation, from high school, he joined the United States Army, serving 39 months overseas during World War II. Service was in England, North Africa, Italy, Corsica, Southern France and Germany. He married Clare R. Koran of Racine on October 15, 1945, in Milwaukee. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1948 and 1949 earning a bachelor's and master's degree in three years. Subsequently he earned a master's degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953. He was a caseworker for the Sheboygan County Department of Public Welfare, child welfare worker for the Wisconsin Division for Children and Youth, director for the Monroe County Department of Social Services, District Wisconsin Division of Community Services, retiring in 1983. During his working years, he was an ad hoc instructor for 14 years for the Extension Division of the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Social Work, and an ad hoc instructor for the undergraduate program in social work for Viterbo College, La Crosse. He retired from the United States Army Reserve in 1974. In retirement, he set up the TRY Mediation Center in conjunction with the Eau Claire County Circuit Court System. He was a commission member of the Eau Claire County Department on Aging and Resource Center for six years. He is survived by two sons, William Peter Adams and James Kevin Adams. His grandchildren: Brent Adams, Paul Adams, Lauren Adams and Faith Adams. There were great-grandchildren and numerous relatives who were loved and highly valued. He was preceded in death by his wife of 46 years, Clare Rose (Koran) Adams who passed away in 1991; and son, Dean Kirk Adams who passed away in 2001 at the age of 46. His mother passed away in 1930 and his father died in 1943. American Legion Post No. 53 conducted Military Honors.