Martha Adams

Martha Miller Adams, 84, of Norcross, GA, died July 1, 2008. Born in an Army barracks at Camp Gordon in Norcross, GA in 1923, she graduated from Norcross High School in 1940 and Draughons Business College in 1941. Martha was among the first group of female students to enroll at Georgia Tech where she studied Industrial Personnel Management. In 1945, she resigned her position as Personnel Director of Nunnally and McCrea Company (Atlanta Clothing Manufacturer) to marry Second Lieutenant John Adams and begin a twenty-eight career as a military wife where she would visit and live in twenty-eight different countries around the world. In 1949-1950, while living on the island of Okinawa, she directed the relief efforts for the adjacent Pacific leper colony island of Kagoshima. She led the United States Group which provided food and medical support to this isolated leper island and made numerous trips to the island on a Naval landing ship to transport needed supplies and medication. In 1951, while living in San Antonio, TX , she became involved with the American Red Cross as a volunteer in both hospital and field work. In 1952, as President of the Officers Wives Club at Bryan Air Base, TX, she formed the local military support unit for the American Red Cross and directed this unit until April 1953, when she was stricken with polio. For the next year and a half, she was a patient in the Air Force Polio Hospital in Wichita Falls, TX. Several months of this time was spent in an iron lung. During this time, she was three hundred miles from her husband and two sons who still were residing in Bryan, TX, where her husband was stationed at the air base. At the time she entered the hospital, one of her sons was two weeks old and the other was two years old. In 1957, after having undergone surgery on three occasions in attempts to correct problems caused by Polio, she and her family moved to Austin, TX, where her husband would be stationed for the next two years. At Austin, she again became active in the American Red Cross and also began active work with the Polio Foundation by making presentations to groups throughout the Austin area in attempts to prevent Polio. She also provided counseling to patients in local hospitals, who were recovering from Polio. In 1958, she and her family moved to Adana, Turkey, where her husband was stationed at the nearby Turkish Air Base. While living in Adana, she was appointed by the United States Ambassador to Turkey, to be Director of the Turkish-American Association. This is a joint organization sponsored by the United States Department of State for the purpose of resolving social problems between citizens of the two countries and the citizens of adjacent countries. In accomplishing the tasks of this job, she traveled extensively through Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, and Jordan. In 1960, she and her family moved to Biloxi, MS, where her husband became stationed at Keesler Air Force Base. At Keesler, she was elected President of the Officers Wives Club and again established her leadership in the work of the American Red Cross and the Polio Foundation. In 1962, she and her family moved to Forest Park, GA, where her husband was stationed at the Atlanta Army Depot. She was elected President of the Officer Wives Club and in addition to her continuing work with the American Red Cross and Polio Foundation, she began volunteer work with the American Cancer Society. During this period, the Polio Foundation was making an all out effort to encourage persons to utilize the Salk vaccine to prevent Polio. Under the sponsorship of the Georgia Polio Foundation, she traveled throughout the state making personal, radio, and television presentations on behalf of the Salk vaccine promotion. On one occasion, she made a presentation to 30,000 people gathered in the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. In 1966, she with her family moved to Washington, D.C., where she and her husband would spend the next years attending the Berlitz School of Languages where they studied the Spanish language. After graduating from the school, she and her family moved to Managua, Nicaragua, where her husband would be Chief of the United States Air Force mission for the next three years. She is a licensed short wave radio operator and after arrival in Managua, she set-up a short wave radio in her home. She accepted the task of coordinator and scheduler for the Medical Radio Net between Duke University Medical Center and the countries of Central America. She established schedules for daily consultation between the Duke Center and medical personnel throughout Central America and acted as interpreter between English speaking personnel at Duke and Spanish speaking personnel in Central America. On one occasion, she received a telephone call from a field hospital located in Waspan, Nicaragua, an interior jungle town. The local surgeon was preparing a patient for surgery when problems arose concerning the patient and the doctor needed immediate advice from a more qualified surgeon. She held the doctor on the phone and immediately contacted Duke Medical Center by radio and requested that they put a qualified surgeon on the line to advise the doctor who was about to begin surgery in Nicaragua. A doctor was immediately put on the line at Duke, but he only spoke Spanish. She interpreted between the two doctors as the surgery took place while both doctors remained in contact until surgery was completed. She was later advised by the doctor in Waspan, that the surgery had been successful thanks to the advice of the Duke doctor. While in Nicaragua, she worked as a volunteer with the Nicaragua Red Cross in the Nicaragua General Hospital in Managua. In coordination with and by the support of Hope Somoza, wife of President Somoza, she convinced the hospital authorities to establish a separate Children's Ward in the hospital and was instrumental in securing support from several relief agencies in order to place the needed furniture and medical equipment in this ward. She was appointed by President Somoza to be Administrative Director of this new Children's Ward and was instrumental in providing medical care to many children who would otherwise be without medical care. One of her prime projects during this era was to insure that all children received the Salk Polio immunization since this had not previously received emphasis in Nicaragua. In 1968, she became the first woman ever to be ordained as a Deacon in the International Union Church. This church is sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Organization of Protestant Churches in overseas areas where U.S. citizens reside. In 1970, she was selected as the outstanding Red Cross worker in the country of Nicaragua. In 1970, she was presented by President Somoza with the Public Service Award which is the highest civilian award given in Nicaragua. In 1970, she was selected as the Outstanding Military Wife of the Year for the entire Defense Department including Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. This award is given to the wife who has done the most in providing service and understanding to human beings during the previous year. This award was personally presented to her by the President of the United States and the Commanding General, U.S. Air Force. In 1970, she and her two sons moved again to military quarters at the Atlanta Army Depot, while her husband spent a year flying combat missions in Vietnam. In April 1971, unaccompanied, she boarded an airplane in Atlanta and flew to Hong Kong, China, where she spent a week with her husband who was on Rest and Recreation leave from Vietnam. She then, unaccompanied, boarded a plane in Hong Kong for the journey back to Atlanta. Later in 1971, she, with family, moved to Barksdale Air Base, Shreveport, LA, where they would reside for two years. While at Shreveport, she worked as a volunteer with the Red Cross Blood Collection Unit and as a local leader of the Child