LACONIA ---- Dr. Arnold A. Adams, 91, noted educator, passed away at his residence on Friday, January 19, 2024.
Dr. Adams was born in Laconia, NH on December 25, 1932, and lived in Northfield, NH from that time through 1951. He attended elementary, junior and senior high schools, graduating in 1951 from Tilton-Northfield High School. During his senior year he became President of the Student Council and President of the Senior Class. He was active in sports but was best known for his accomplishments on the trumpet. During his high school years, he played with the Franklin High School Band, the newly formed Tilton High School Band, the Franklin Community Band, and the Sanbornton Band, becoming a soloist with each.
After graduation he attended Plymouth Teachers College where he majored in Business Education and was instrumental in starting a college-community band, a 12-piece dance band and a 5-piece dance band.
Dr. Adams began his career as a student teacher at Lebanon High School and then as business education teacher in Littleton, NH and served there for one school year. He entered military service and was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC and served in their personnel branch through August 1958.
On June 29, 1957 he married Edythe Clair Grant of Laconia, NH, also a teacher. They later moved to Takoma Park, MD, later to Silver Spring, MD and still later to Rockville, ME.
During his tenure with the Montgomery County Public School System, he served as business education teacher at Richard Montgomery High School and Robert E. Peary High School. He then became Supervisor of Construction Finance, Senior Accountant, Specialist in Business Education, and later Supervisor of Adult Education, specializing in the federal grant programs of MDTA and CETA. From that position he retired in 1982 and moved back to New Hampshire.
After several years of retirement, he taught at the college level at New Hampshire College and New Hampshire Vocational College in Laconia, NH. After five semesters of part-time college teaching, he retired again.
During his academic years he first received a Bachelor of Education degree from Plymouth Teachers College, Plymouth, NH in 1955. In his quest for continuous study, he received a second Bachelor of Commercial Science Degree in Accounting from Benjamin Franklin University in Washington, DC in 1961 and a Doctor of Education degree from the George Washington University in Washington, DC in 1968. At the George Washington University, he became president of Phi Delta Kappa for the years 1974-75. He is listed in Who’s Who in Education for the year 1968.
During his retirement years, he became interested in genealogy and compiled with others, 13 volumes of birth, death, and marriage records for the towns of Tilton, Northfield, Sanbornton, Belmont, Franklin, Laconia, Gilford, and Bristol, NH. In addition, he wrote his memoirs, “Growing Up in Northfield”.
Dr. Adams is survived by his wife of 66 years, Edythe (Grant) Adams of Laconia and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his parents, Howard and Lucy (Vigneault) Adams and his brother Robert H. Adams.
A Calling Hour will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2024, from 12:00pm-1:00pm in the Carriage House at Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home,164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH. A funeral service will begin at 1:00pm at the funeral home.
A Graveside Service will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 11:00am at Bayside Cemetery, Union Avenue, Laconia, NH.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/603Cremations.com, Laconia NH is assisting the family with the arrangements.