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William Jennings Bryan Adams

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William Jennings Bryan Adams

Birth
Mississippi, USA
Death
26 May 1955 (aged 57)
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, USA
Burial
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, USA Add to Map
Plot
Garden of Peace Block 88 Lot 14
Memorial ID
View Source
William Jennings Bryan Adams, son of Furney and Henrietta Smith Adams; he was the business manager (1943 - 1955) for Dallas Independent Schools.
Bryan Adams (full name William Jennings Bryan Adams) was born in Iuka, Mississippi, July 19, 1897. Because his father and William Jennings Bryan were close friends, the two men agreed to name their sons for each other. As a result of this friendship, Bryan Adams was given the full name William Jennings Bryan Adams. He later dropped all of the names except Bryan, saying that it was too long to write. In Mr. Adams' family, there were five children, three girls, and two boys, all of whom are still living except Bryan.
As a boy, Mr. Adams attended high school and received his diploma. After completing his high school work, he took a business course in a business college in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 1916, he went to work for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, as secretary to the Superintendent In this capacity, he did a variety of work. During this time, he met his future wife, Miss Lura Patterson on a blind date, and the two were married in 1918. His connection with the Texas and Pacific Railroad lasted until 1924.
From his position with the railroad, Mr. Adams stepped into a place of responsibility with the Gifford Sand and Gravel Company in Dallas. This work necessitated his going to Louisiana to supervise the operation of gravel pits, and gave him the experience that he needed to operate his own business. Shortly afterwards, he and Mr. Allen White bought a gravel pit near Hearne, Texas, which they operated jointly. This venture proved to be very successful until a sudden rise in the Brazos River wiped out all the holdings of the company.
In April 1929, Mr. Adams became associated with the Dallas Independent School District as Purchasing Agent, a position for which his business career and training had fitted him. From the position of Purchasing Agent, he stepped into the place of Business Manager of the Schools and Secretary of the Board of Education. Here he remained for twenty-six years.
In 1932, Mr. Adams was elected President of the Dallas Purchasing Agents Association, and in 1943, President of the Texas Association of Purchasing Agents. The organization known as the Texas Association of School Business Managers was created in 1948, and Mr. Adams was named the first President of that group.
His death on May 26, 1955, was a shock to all of his associates.
His wife Mrs. Lura Patterson Adams and his daughter Mrs. H. E. Heacock survive him. His one grand-daughter entered U.C.L.A. in September 1959, where she prepared herself to be a primary teacher.
Mr. Adams' service to the schools of Dallas has been of inestimable value. During his lifetime, he carried the respect and admiration of every person in the administration and in the teaching personnel. He was quiet, reserved, dependable, and efficient. Everyone who knew him and who worked with him held him in high esteem.
In September 1957, following the plan of the Board of Education of the Dallas Independent School District of naming new schools for outstanding citizens of Dallas, a new high school was designated Bryan Adams High School in honor of Mr. Adams. With such an honorable name, the school has a fine heritage on which to build its future. The school's first year was challenging as it was a half-finished school with Robert T. Hill Junior High School housed in one wing, no senior class, and much more work to be completed.

Dr. W. T. White’s (DISD Superintendent of Schools) eulogy to Bryan Adams:
I have the pleasant opportunity to say a word about Bryan Adams. It’s difficult because it isn’t easy to know which one to choose. Throughout a long period of time (which now seems short) as we worked together, Mr. Adams was right in the middle of planning, the execution, and the administration of the Dallas Public School system.
But that wasn’t the thing we valued him most for, though the types of service that he gave was unexcelled. We valued Bryan most because he was Bryan. I never did hear anybody except someone who didn’t know him very well, or someone who was referring to him in a formal situation, call him Mr. Adams. He deserved the title all right, but we admired him and enjoyed him so much that it was always Bryan.
If there was some job to be done that required tact and good judgment, it usually ended up with, “well, let Bryan do that.”
I never saw Bryan Adams where he wasn’t optimistic. I don’t think that I ever saw him when he wasn’t happy. And his influence in the school system was reflected and is reflected now in a thousand ways he would never have imagined.
Even to the end of his days he never did admit that he was very sick. He was the most courageous, most admirable, the most lovable man I just about ever knew: so that when the naming of this school came up, the Board of Education spontaneously thought of the name Bryan Adams. And those of us who continued here shall treasure as long as we love our association with and memories of Bryan. We are lot better folks because we had him for our friend.
Mr. Thompson, no finer man ever lived and no one deserved more to have his memory established in perpetuity in a school building than Bryan Adams.
William Jennings Bryan Adams, son of Furney and Henrietta Smith Adams; he was the business manager (1943 - 1955) for Dallas Independent Schools.
Bryan Adams (full name William Jennings Bryan Adams) was born in Iuka, Mississippi, July 19, 1897. Because his father and William Jennings Bryan were close friends, the two men agreed to name their sons for each other. As a result of this friendship, Bryan Adams was given the full name William Jennings Bryan Adams. He later dropped all of the names except Bryan, saying that it was too long to write. In Mr. Adams' family, there were five children, three girls, and two boys, all of whom are still living except Bryan.
As a boy, Mr. Adams attended high school and received his diploma. After completing his high school work, he took a business course in a business college in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 1916, he went to work for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, as secretary to the Superintendent In this capacity, he did a variety of work. During this time, he met his future wife, Miss Lura Patterson on a blind date, and the two were married in 1918. His connection with the Texas and Pacific Railroad lasted until 1924.
From his position with the railroad, Mr. Adams stepped into a place of responsibility with the Gifford Sand and Gravel Company in Dallas. This work necessitated his going to Louisiana to supervise the operation of gravel pits, and gave him the experience that he needed to operate his own business. Shortly afterwards, he and Mr. Allen White bought a gravel pit near Hearne, Texas, which they operated jointly. This venture proved to be very successful until a sudden rise in the Brazos River wiped out all the holdings of the company.
In April 1929, Mr. Adams became associated with the Dallas Independent School District as Purchasing Agent, a position for which his business career and training had fitted him. From the position of Purchasing Agent, he stepped into the place of Business Manager of the Schools and Secretary of the Board of Education. Here he remained for twenty-six years.
In 1932, Mr. Adams was elected President of the Dallas Purchasing Agents Association, and in 1943, President of the Texas Association of Purchasing Agents. The organization known as the Texas Association of School Business Managers was created in 1948, and Mr. Adams was named the first President of that group.
His death on May 26, 1955, was a shock to all of his associates.
His wife Mrs. Lura Patterson Adams and his daughter Mrs. H. E. Heacock survive him. His one grand-daughter entered U.C.L.A. in September 1959, where she prepared herself to be a primary teacher.
Mr. Adams' service to the schools of Dallas has been of inestimable value. During his lifetime, he carried the respect and admiration of every person in the administration and in the teaching personnel. He was quiet, reserved, dependable, and efficient. Everyone who knew him and who worked with him held him in high esteem.
In September 1957, following the plan of the Board of Education of the Dallas Independent School District of naming new schools for outstanding citizens of Dallas, a new high school was designated Bryan Adams High School in honor of Mr. Adams. With such an honorable name, the school has a fine heritage on which to build its future. The school's first year was challenging as it was a half-finished school with Robert T. Hill Junior High School housed in one wing, no senior class, and much more work to be completed.

Dr. W. T. White’s (DISD Superintendent of Schools) eulogy to Bryan Adams:
I have the pleasant opportunity to say a word about Bryan Adams. It’s difficult because it isn’t easy to know which one to choose. Throughout a long period of time (which now seems short) as we worked together, Mr. Adams was right in the middle of planning, the execution, and the administration of the Dallas Public School system.
But that wasn’t the thing we valued him most for, though the types of service that he gave was unexcelled. We valued Bryan most because he was Bryan. I never did hear anybody except someone who didn’t know him very well, or someone who was referring to him in a formal situation, call him Mr. Adams. He deserved the title all right, but we admired him and enjoyed him so much that it was always Bryan.
If there was some job to be done that required tact and good judgment, it usually ended up with, “well, let Bryan do that.”
I never saw Bryan Adams where he wasn’t optimistic. I don’t think that I ever saw him when he wasn’t happy. And his influence in the school system was reflected and is reflected now in a thousand ways he would never have imagined.
Even to the end of his days he never did admit that he was very sick. He was the most courageous, most admirable, the most lovable man I just about ever knew: so that when the naming of this school came up, the Board of Education spontaneously thought of the name Bryan Adams. And those of us who continued here shall treasure as long as we love our association with and memories of Bryan. We are lot better folks because we had him for our friend.
Mr. Thompson, no finer man ever lived and no one deserved more to have his memory established in perpetuity in a school building than Bryan Adams.


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