Carolyn Adams Obituary

KINGSPORT - Carolyn Gail Adams, of Kingsport TN and Scott County, VA, passed away after a brief illness on Thursday, March 30, 2023. She left her children with soothing words and inspirational courage. Born July 3, 1939, in Dorchester, VA, to parents Owen W. Franklin and Audrey Elizabeth Whited, "Gail" was the eldest of five. She graduated from JJ Kelly High School and moved to Washington, DC, where she married her hometown sweetheart, the late James Daniel Adams, founder of Kingsport's Inove Graphics. They settled in Northern VA and had three daughters, Christina Adams of Laguna Beach, CA, Patricia Osborne of Kingsport TN, and Dana Wolfe Foley of Abingdon, VA. She raised them with patience, grace and excellent homemaking skills. She hosted "the fun yard" with the worn-dirt baseball diamond and plenty of Kool-Aid for her children and their friends. The family moved to Scott County in 1975 to buy a farm. She worked in the Gate City office of Mountain Region Community Medicine for decades before retiring. Many benefited from her cheery manner behind the counter. A petite 5-foot, blue-eyed blonde, she loved nature more than any store or house. She was a longtime member of the Southwest Virginia Archaeology Club, and had an astonishing talent for spotting fossils, artifacts, and minerals in any patch of dusty path. An avid reader, gardener and library patron, she

leaves behind a neat home with carefully placed rocks, driftwood, plants and books.

Her family and friends include: grandsons Andrew Osborne, Justin Osborne, and Jackson Anthony; her supportive sons-in-law Eric Osborne, Anthony "Tony" Page and Pete Foley, plus the late James Wolfe. Her brothers Owen and Dennis Franklin, sister Diane and late sister Rosemarie were always on her mind. Her nieces and nephews Elaine, Janet, April, Drew, Kirby, Dale, Johnathan, Buddy, Marybeth and Becky, her late family including her adored Aunt Thelma Whited, aunts Pauline and Evelyn, uncle Wiley, and her beloved late mother-in-law Melvina Adams, Aunt Alice and their children gave her many happy hours. Later in life her fiancé Mert Worley and his daughter Linda Lemaster and her husband Pete enriched her life. Her friends know how nice it was to talk to her and what a good listener she was. No one will make tea and cornbread like she could.

Her love of the poem "Thanatoposis" comes to mind as she departs: "When the summons comes…sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust…one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams."