Luther Almond "Buck" Adams

Luther Almond "Buck" Adams, 80, retired school administrator, of Southern Pines, died April 30th at home from a heart attack.
Mr. Adams was born May 31, 1923, in Gastonia, North Carolina, son of Joseph Luther and Emily Stile Adams. Both parents died before he was six years old. Luther and two older sisters were raised at the Methodist Children's Home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Luther was class president and all-city team fullback when he graduated from R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem in January, 1942. On December 7, 1942, while living in Danville, Virginia, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Following boot camp training at Marine Corp Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, he was assigned to Squadron VMJ-252, 4th Marine Air Wing, South and Central Pacific. During the next two years, he participated in the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Saipan-Tinian and Eniewetok invasion.
Returning to Cherry Point Marine Corp Air Station in January 1945, he completed his duration plus six months enlistment. A sergeant, he was honorably discharged on October 5, 1945.
Adams attended Lenoir-Rhyne College, a Lutheran Institution in Hickory, North Carolina on a football scholarship, graduating three years later with a degree in History and Physical Education. It was here that he met and married Elizabeth Delaney Wallace of Albemarle, the lovely lady of his life for the pat fifty-six years. Subsequently, he received a Master's Degree in School Administration jointly from Appalachian State University, Boone, and George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee. Later he studied for the advanced superintendent's certificate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Adams began his public school career in 1948, as a teacher and coach at Altamahaw-Ossippee High School in Alamance County. The next year he move to Mt. Pleasant High School in Cabarrus County as teacher-coach. Three years later he was elected District Principal of the Mt. Pleasant Schools where he served for eight years.
In 1959, Mr. Adams was elected Superintendent of the Southern Pines City Schools, followed by a ten year tenure as Superintendent of Stanly County Schools in Albemarle. He served next as Executive Director of the Piedmont Educational Foundation, a supportive arm of Lenior-Rhyne College, Hickory. Mr. Adams completed his administrative career as Superintendent of Halifax County Schools, Halifax, North Carolina, a life-long pofessional school career spanning 37 years.
In 1982, Adams returned to Southern Pines in retirement. Golfing, traveling, and working as a starter-ranger at the Legacy Golf Links took some of his time. Meanwhile, he completed six years on the Southern Pines Town Council, two years as Mayor ProTem, and served on the Moore County Agricultural Board of Directors, the Performing Arts center Board of Trustees, the Kiwanis Club of the Sandhills Board of Directors, The Lenior-Rhyne College Board of Trustees, and as a member of First Citizens Bank Board.
In 1990, Lenior-Rhyne College Alumni Association awarded Mr. Adams the Distinguished Service Award for service to community. In 1996-97, the Kiwanis Club of the Sandhills named him Kiwanis man of the Year. In August, 2002, the Coach John Williams Foundation recognized Mr. Adams for exemplary service to the community for 12 years of successful leadership of the Coach John W. Williams Memorial Golf Tournament. On retirement in 1982, the Superintendents' Division of the North Carolina Association of Educators awarded Adams the Distinguished Service Award for dedicated service to the schools of North Carolina.
High among Adams' loves was Our Savior Lutheran Church. In 1990, he headed its successful Sanctuary Building Committee, a million dollar construction project. He is considered by many to be the congregations' "Founding Father", having started the church in his home on January 9, 1960 while he was Southern Pines School Superintendent. A Charter Member of the church, he was the first Council President and first Building Committee Chairman. Today the church membership stands at over 900.
Adams had three children and four grandchildren: son, Tom and wife Diane live in McLean, Virginia where Tom serves as CEO of the global headquarters of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. Daughter, Elizabeth "Libby" Carter and her husband, Dr. Steven R. Carter, live at the Country Club of North Carolina, Pinehurst. Libby serves as English and Debate teacher at Pinecrest High School. A younger son, David, died in 1980 at age 24. Adams grandchildren include Benjamin Luther Adams and wife Marian of Washington, D.C., Ashley Adams of McLean, Virginia, Emily Carter, a student at Wake Forest University, and Stephanie Carter of Pinehurst.
Adams was highly devoted to the Sandhills Kiwanis Club, which he initially joined in 1959. He was especially proud that the club sponsors the annual Jr. Builder's Cup and the Coach Williams Golf Tournament, both of which recognize and assist young people of the community.
Family and friends will received at Boles Funeral Home, Pinehurst from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. A memorial service will be held Wednesday, May 5 at 3 p.m. at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Southern Pines with the Reverends Scott Homesley, Palmer Clemmer and Dr. David R. Keck officiating. Burial will follow later at St. Martin's Lutheran Church, Stanly County.
Memorial contributions may be made to The Children's Home, 1001 Reynolda Road, Winston-Salem, North Carolina or Our Savior Lutheran Church Scholarship Fund, 1517 Luther Way, Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387.
Arrangements by Boles Funeral Home, Inc. of Pinehurst.