Bill will be remembered as a man who possessed a quiet inner strength and whose heart was filled with a profound and endless dignity. He will be remembered as a man who nurtured the deep love he held for his family and the sincere admiration he had for his friends. Bill possessed a gentle humility and an unwavering faith in all things he could never know.  Those are the same qualities held by the honorable but quickly fading generation to which he belonged, a generation who put the needs of family ahead of their own, a generation who held life-long friendships and few debts. Bill was a man of deep convictions and, at times, displayed a sharp temperament.  Moreover, he was a man who was proud to say he never possessed the desire to “Tweet,” to “Friend” or take a “selfie.”  Born December 30, 1935, Bill grew up on a quiet oak-lined street nestled in the heart of Baton Rouge’s Garden District. In 1955 he graduated from Baton Rouge High and attended LSU, studying architecture and immersing himself in the “finer arts” of attending LSU football and basketball games. Between school and looking for dubious diversions, he was an Army ROTC cadet “a wild group” they must have been. When attending football games with our father we would always have to walk across the parade ground. He would tell us about the long hot summer days, marching countless steps, “left right left, back and forth,” on the well worn Parade Ground in his ill fitted wool uniform. He didn’t fool us-he loved it.  In 1956 Bill interrupted his studies to enlist in the Army. As a young Army intelligence officer, he was stationed at a small US Air Force electronic listening post near Wasserkuppe, Germany.  On October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik into earth’s orbit he was at his post listening and making what turned out to be the first satellite transmission ever recorded. For doing “my job” he and his unit received a Presidential commendation. He loved his time overseas and regretted that he was unable to return one last time to be with the kind, generous people he and Pat met so many years earlier. In 1958 Bill briefly returned home to marry his dear Patricia before returning to Wasserkuppe for an extended honeymoon, taking their time to travel and live the unencumbered, romantic life of newlyweds. “There are times that I wished stayed in the army where all I had to worry about was a standing locker and a footlocker, now I have to worry about all of this” was one of his favorite quips.  In 1959 the newly married couple returned home and raise their family. To support the  new and growing family, Bill went to work beside his father at L.B. Adams & Company. That is where he learned to work like others, learned to eat, to breathe. The work both nourished him (paid the bills) and consumed him (drove him nuts) for more than 56 productive years.  His one pleasure was restoring cars, the cars of his youth. Though this life-long obsession Bill restored some amazing and some not so amazing cars, but through this passion he found some of his most peaceful moments and dearest friends. I know he found something redeeming in taking “nearly nothing” and with only his hands and time, made something beautiful and lasting.  On December 3, 2018, with his children, a close life-long friend, a stranger who stopped to comfort and an incredible group of first responders, he died.  Patricia, Bill’s wife of 57 years, and his loving parents, L. B. Adams and Sally Hillhouse Adams, preceded him in death. Bill was survived by his two adult children Rebecca Lane and William Lindsey; by his loving big sister Jerryanne Hadley and her even bigger-than-life husband, Robert (Bob); by his nieces and nephew, Sally Rogers and her husband David and their dear adult son Jack all of Wichita, KS and by Anne Bruso and her husband Kris and their wonderful children Will, John and Sam all of Mission Hills, Kansas, and by Bobby Hadley of Wichita, KS.  Bill would want us to thank Elizabeth Coleman who has been a tireless resource and huge presence in both his life and our lives for more than 54 years. Elizabeth’s kindness knew no bounds and feared no evil. Words cannot express how we feel about you. Thank you, we miss you.  To those who worked alongside Bill, I would like you to know that he appreciated your loyalty and dedication to what was often a dirty and, at times, thankless job. Though it was difficult for him to express I know he cared very much for y’all and your families.  Lane and I will miss the man who raised us, who loved us, who nurtured and fed us, who worked so hard to pay for us, and who never gave up on us. He would be the first to say he fell short of perfection and that it was impossible for him to be all things to all people, but God knows he tried.  So now that his debts have been paid it is time for him to rest.  His children wish to invite friends, family and anyone else who would like to gather in remembrance of Bill Adams to the  memorial service which will be held at The First Presbyterian Church (where he was a lifelong member and a dutiful Deacon) in Dunham Chapel, on Thursday, January 10, 2019, with visitation beginning at 10:00 am until service at 11:00 am.  For more on Bill’s life through photographs you can go to the following YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcYRTFOv1Tg