Patricia "Pat" Smith Adams

Patricia "Pat" Smith Adams, 87, of Wilmington, died Monday, February 3, 2020, at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

She was born at James Walker Hospital in Wilmington June 8, 1932, daughter of the late Rodney and Hilda Holmes Smith. Pat lived her early life in the farming community of Kelly, in Bladen County, and attended elementary school there. High School was in Elizabethtown, a 26-mile school bus ride away. Upon graduating from high school, she moved to High Point, where she lived with her aunt and uncle, Doyle and Juanita Early, and attended and graduated from High Point College. She married Dave Adams on December 22, 1955, after which she became a "week-end wife" for the remainder of that academic year, teaching first grade in High Point during the week and spending the week-ends with her husband in Raleigh, where he was attending graduate school at N. C. State University. After residing in several locations, she returned to the city of her birth in the spring of 1996, where she moved into a beautiful home bordering Porter's Pond in the community of Avenel. Her new home reflects the strong ties in the Smith family - sheathed and paneled with wood from Pat's land, which had been in the Smith family for a century, and a patio paved with bricks from her grandfather's house.

The Smith family characterized the traditional southern family -- closely knit, getting together at the family home in Kelly for holidays, sharing joys and sorrows, held together by the two sisters - Pat and sister, Beverly.

Pat loved people, and especially children. When meeting a child while on a walk, she would stop and speak. If it was a very young child, she would hold it for awhile. She only had one child of her own, David Jr., but "adopted" many. To these "young ones," and to some not so young, she will always be "Momma Patty."

She is survived by her loving husband of 64 years, Dave Adams; a son, David Adams, Jr. (Lori) of Kelly, NC; three grandchildren, Bradley Adams (Tanya), Amy Rosa (Abel), and Brooke Grindstaff (Drew); three great-grandchildren, Kori Adams, Presley Rosa, and Rilynn Rosa; and a sister, Beverly Allen.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00p.m. Tuesday, February 11, 2020, at Wesleyan Chapel United Methodist Church, 10255 US Hwy 17 N. Prior to the service, the family will greet friends from 12:30 until the service hour. Interment will follow at the Smith Cemetery near Kelly, NC.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Pat's memory may be made to the charity of one's choice.