Obituary of Melvin Adams

BUCKSPORT Melvin “Mel” Adams, 83, of Bucksport passed away peacefully March 20, 2009 at EMMC with family at his side. Mel attended Central High School in North New Portland, Maine where he left after his junior year to join the Army Air Corps during WWII. He was a boxer and excellent baseball player. After the Army, he returned to Maine where he attended Farmington State Teachers College, graduating with a B.S. Degree in Education. During those years he met his future bride, Doris Leach of Bucksport, ME, and was a starting pitcher for the college baseball team. After college he built a dairy bar directly across from the ball field entrance, and went on to teach in Richmond, Rumford, Rockland, Maine, and then Hampton, Virginia. In 1959 he earned a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Maine, and subsequently had a successful career as elementary school teacher and principal in the Attleboro, MA school system where he became the first Principal for the Studley Elementary School and provided guidance and mentoring to hundreds of students. During those years he became a Certified School Psychologist, started the Attleboro Municipal Credit Union, built the family home, drove the 24 hours to Daytona every February to watch Richard Petty run in the Daytona 500 and spend the rest of the week surf fishing with his dad. Always whistling, the eternal optimist, and unwilling to let summers pass him by, he and the family owned and operated Pine Shore Motel and Cottages in E. Orland, ME, where he met and became lifelong friends with many wonderful people. After retirement he and his wife spent several winters in Florida, and spent summers at the lake in Maine. He loved to fish, travel, watch NASCAR and the Red Sox, and spend time around the grill with family and friends. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Doris of Bucksport; three sons: Steven, and his wife Beverly; Gary and his fiancée Gloria Basford; and David and Judy; a daughter: Debra Gordon; grand children: Amy, Gabriel, Christy, Billy, Melissa, Delmore, Ian, and Nicole: and great granddaughters, Taylor and Harley: and brother and sisters-in-law; Norris, Gladys and Phyllis: and numerous nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life will be conducted at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 20th at the Franklin St. Methodist Church in Bucksport, ME., and committal at the Maine State Cemetery in Augusta, ME at 12 noon on Monday, June 22nd. On-line condolences may be placed at www.directcremationofmaine.com.