Dock W. Adams

EAST PRAIRIE - Dock Wilson Adams, 72, died at 1:40 p.m. Sept. 23, 2004, at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Born Feb. 11, 1932, at Bessie, Tenn., to the late James Neely "Shorty" and Vina Caroline Bugg Adams, he had lived in the Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau since January 2004, having lived in East Prairie since 1999. A retired English professor, he taught at the University of Tennessee in Martin, retiring in 1991. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia and received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served in the Korean Conflict and was a member of the United Methodist Church in Charleston.

Survivors include: two sons, Richmond Brookshire Adams of Carbondale, Ill., and James Neely Adams II of Cleveland, Ga.

He was preceded in death by two brothers, James Richard Adams and Paul Clayton Adams, and one sister, Opal Groves.

Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie is in charge of arrangements which are incomplete.