Jeannette Adams; active in church
When Jeannette Fithian and William Adams were in a band at their West Philadelphia church in the 1930s, she played a clarinet and he was a drummer.
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When Jeannette Fithian and William Adams were in a band at their West Philadelphia church in the 1930s, she played a clarinet and he was a drummer.
And from their church and from Overbrook High School, daughter Susan Adams said, "he would walk her home."
The couple "went together six or seven years before they were married," their daughter said, and it had lasted "almost 73 years when he died in May 2013" at age 95.
It was a long walk.
On Friday, April 22, Mrs. Adams, 97, of Manahawkin, N.J., a former Sunday school teacher in Mount Holly, died at her home.
She was the widow of the Rev. William Harry Adams II, pastor of Hardingville Bible Church near Glassboro in the 1950s, and the Broad Street Baptist Church in Mount Holly from 1978 to 1989.
From the 1990s to his death, he was a visiting pastor for the First Baptist Church of Pemberton.
At his churches in Mount Holly and Pemberton, her daughter said, Mrs. Adams was "a very active pastor's wife" and superintendent of Sunday school.
And they shared a second career.
From the 1970s through the 1990s, their daughter said, he was the production manager and she was a classified salesperson for the Beach Haven Times and the Beacon, weekly newspapers now run out of Toms River, N.J.
Mrs. Adams was also a Pioneer Girls leader for a Girl Scouts troop at the Manahawkin Baptist Church.
"She was a very kind and loving person," her daughter said. "Our home was always open to anyone."
Besides her daughter, Mrs. Adams is survived by sons William H. III and Donald, daughter Della Meyer, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Viewings were set from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 28, and 10 to 10:45 a.m. Friday, April 29, both at the First Baptist Church, 59 Hanover St., Pemberton, N.J., 08068, before an 11 a.m. life service there. Interment is to be in Pemberton Baptist Cemetery.
Donations may be sent to the Deacon Fund at the church's address.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.perinchief.com.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele