James W. Adams

JAMES W. ADAMS James W. Adams (Coach/Hoss) died peacefully on Thursday, July 25, surrounded by his loving family. Born in Fairfield, Kentucky on September 4, 1929 to Ben and Charlotte Clark Adams, he was their fifth son. He was preceded in death by his brothers Dennis, Ben Jr., Frank, Jack, and his sister, Margaret. He is survived by his brother, Isaac Adams of Beaumont, Texas. Jim (or Jim Bill as his wife and family called him) served in the Air Force from 1948 until 1952; his three-year enlistment was extended by the "Truman year" during the Korean Conflict. During that time, he served in Japan for over two years. After his discharge, he entered college at Western Kentucky but soon found that he was not accumulating any credits and he followed friends to Lamar, Colorado where there were approximately 15 "Kentucky boys" attending a junior college with a total enrollment of under 150 students. While attending Lamar Jr. College, he met his future wife, Barbara Ross, who was recently graduated from college and in her first year of teaching. They were married in February of 1954, moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico so that Jim could continue his college education. He received his BA from New Mexico Highlands University in 1956 and later completed his Master's from that same campus. His first year of teaching was in Umapine, Oregon, a small town near the border of Washington State. Jim and Barbara welcomed their first child, Cathryn, while living there. When Cathy was two weeks old, they completed a move to Williams, California in the Sacramento Valley. Four years later they moved to Hemet, still planning to keep moving every three or four years. Their second child, James Jr., was born in 1964 and somehow moving plans disappeared and they have lived in the same home for fifty years. Sharyl arrived in 1968 and Krista completed the family in 1969. Jim is survived by his wife of 59 years, Barbara, his children: Cathy Adams Remily, her children Michael married to Julie and parents of Christopher, Carter, Cole, and Cobe; her daughter, Tara Andreassen, married to Tom and their infant daughter, Lilly Sue. His son, Jim, is married to Cindee and they have two daughters, Cristina and Corbie of Murrieta. Their third child, Sharyl Adams Williams lives in Hemet with her daughter, Rebekah, and grandson, Milo. Their fourth child, Krista Adams Caley, now lives in Hemet with her daughter, Jessy, and son, Brandon. Jim stayed at San Jacinto High School for 26 years where he taught Physical Education classes and coached football and tennis. In the 70's, he started helping at MSJC's football program and then he became the tennis coach and taught tennis through December of 2012. Jim was still playing tennis through the end of June. He loved his Tuesday and Thursday matches at Valley Wide. He and his good tennis buddy, Pete Smith helped build the original tennis courts at the current San Jacinto High School with tennis team players and were instrumental in the planning and building of tennis courts at Vallley Wide Recreation. Jim loved his Catholic faith and was responsible for taking all four of his children to church when they were children. This last year, he depended on his children to take him to weekly mass. In 2006, Jim was in the first group inducted into the San Jacinto Athletic Hall of Fame. The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the San Jacinto Education Foundation to support the "Coach "Hoss" Adams Scholarship." (address: 2045 South San Jacinto Avenue, San Jacinto, CA 92583) Donations and memories may also be shared through the miller-jones.com website under "Current Services" for James Adams. Mass will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 17, at Holy Spirit Church in Hemet. Following the mass, the family invites friends to join them for a Celebration of Life and refreshments in the gym at San Jacinto High School.