Richard Sylvester Adams was born August 2, 1900, in Newburg, West Virginia, the son of William Allison and Ruth (Corbin) Adams. He graduated from high school in Littleton and then completed four years of correspondence study. He was converted to the Christian faith in March, 1938, and was licensed to preach the following August. After many years as a local preacher, he transferred to the Central Texas Conference; there, he was received on trial and ordained Deacon (1956) and ordained Elder (1958). He served three more churches there before transferring to the Central Kansas Conference in 1968, serving Geneseo, Macksville, and Salem. He retired in 1969 from the Kansas West Conference and moved to Grand Prairie and Lancaster, Texas. During his retirement he transferred again to the North Texas Conference and served two churches there. He retired permanently in November, 1972. Adams married M. Shannon in 1924; they had three children: Dorothy Lee, Ruby E., and Richard F. Adams. He married Reta Lucille Skidmore on May 7, 1938, in Gassaway, West Virginia. Their children were Jane Ruth (Adams) Montgomery and Nancy Jean (Adams) Callender (twins), Joanne (Adams) Johnston, William O. Adams, and Janice Elizabeth (Adams) (Dekle) Stewart. Rev. Adams died suddenly on August 27, 1974, and was buried in Lancaster, Texas. His memoir can be found in the Kansas West Conference Journal for 1975, page 188.

Note written by Sarah St. John