FATHER: Robert T. Riley (1888-1969)
MOTHER: Carmen Switzer (1892-1978)
MARRIED: Willie Douglas Adams (1914-1974)
April 21, 1935
(Jefferson Street Baptist Parsonage, Roanoke, VA
Rev. John T. Coburn officiating.)
CHILDREN:
Robert Douglas Adams (b.1940)
Grandma Adams was named after Mrs. Araminta Kern, the wife of Indiana senator John Worth Kern (1849-1917), who built his large summer home ("Kerncliff") near the Riley farm. (Sen. Kern was buried there when he died, though his body was moved to Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, IN in 1929.) She was born in Carvin's Cove, but moved to Roanoke City when she was two years old.
She worked at the American Viscose Silk Mill in Roanoke in her younger years, and was working there when she got married. When she'd get paid, she'd buy five pounds of candy and bring it back to her siblings. Like several of her uncles, she developed rheumatoid arthritis young--in her twenties-- and suffered from it for the rest of her life.
Read Grandma Adams' wedding announcement.
Grandma Adams always had candy around the house for Jana and me (and my parents, and anyone else who came to visit): glass candy jars filled with candy corn, M&Ms, Peppermint Patties, and more. On top of her refrigerator was invariably a bag of Doritos or two. On top of that, she was always concerned that we weren't eating enough--when we had dinner there (especially Thanksgiving dinner!), she always filled the table and our plates with food and encouraged us to eat more...and more...and more. She grew up in the Depression and food wasn't always easy to come by; money was also a problem as an adult. You ate food when you had it, because you couldn't be completely certain you'd have it again later.
She was a lifelong and active Southern Baptist, and at the time of her death was a member of Crystal Spring Baptist Church in Roanoke.
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