Letha Darlene Adams

Letha Darlene Adams, 84, formerly of Bridgman and Stevensville, passed away Sunday, April 16, 2006 at Lakeland Continuing Care Center-Berrien Center. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at 6:00 P.M. Monday, April 24 at Kerley-Starks & Menchinger Family Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Rd., St. Joseph. Memorials may be made to the Michigan Diabetes Association or the Bangor High School Alumni Foundation. Per Letha’s request, her body has been donated to the University of Michigan Medical School. Those wishing to share a memory or sign the guest book online may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com. Mrs. Adams was born March 22, 1922 in Nashua, Iowa to George & Ethel (Rishel) Wheaton. She was a member of the first cheerleading squad at Bangor High School, from where she graduated in 1940. Darlene also sang in the school choir and played the violin in the orchestra. She was employed at the Whitcomb Hotel in St. Joseph as a telephone operator for many years. Darlene went on vacation to Bermuda and fell in love with the island. She landed a job as a telephone operator at the Princess Hotel in Bermuda where she worked for twenty-five years before retiring and moving back to this area. Letha is survived by two daughters-Lynda Adams of Baroda, Leah (Stuart) Furrow of Grand Junction, MI; her seven grandchildren-Dawn (Steve) Sadler of Arizona, Tara (Shelby) Pankratz of MI, Ronald Slazek of MI, Jamie (Heather) Adams of CO, Jennifer (Rick) Sammons of FL, Tracie (Josh) Schauer of CO, Judie Adams of CO, and seventeen great-grandchildren whom she absolutely loved; and two sisters-Macel Johnson of Bangor, MI, and Velma (Ron) Holloway of Battle Creek. She was preceded in death by her parents, her son Jerry Adams in 1993, and by an infant brother, Melvin Wheaton.