An educator, administrator, innovator, athlete and beloved family man passed away in Greenwood on Thursday.
Services for Leroy “Jackie” Adams Jr., 82, will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Greenwood Delta Funeral Home, with visitation beginning at 10 a.m.
Mr. Adams was remembered Friday by his son, Leflore County Judge Kevin Adams, as a dedicated professional who appreciated art and technology and loved children and senior citizens.
“He loved being an educator. He was very, very good at it,” Kevin Adams said. “He always rose to a position of leadership. He had a tremendous work ethic and took pride in what he was able to do.”
Jackie Adams’ career in education began the day after he graduated from Delta State University, when he began teaching government and economics to students of Greenwood High School.
Later, he served as principal of East Elementary School in the former Leflore County School District. He became known as an outstanding educator and administrator, elevating East School to the highest certification level of Mississippi schools.
“He was in the school district at a very difficult time,” his son said, referring to the court-ordered desegregation of the public schools that began in the late 1960s in Mississippi.
“He wanted the districts to integrate voluntarily, and one of his duties for the state was to try to bring the two teachers’ unions together into one cohesive group that could work for all the educators of this state,” Kevin Adams said. “That’s just who he was as a professional, as a person.”
While a principal, Mr. Adams ran twice unsuccessfully for Leflore County superintendent of education. LoLo Lubiani of Greenwood, a friend of Mr. Adams’ since 1974, remembered serving as his “quasi-campaign manager.”
“He was meticulous,” said Lubiani. “He once insisted we get permission from the homeowners before we put signs in any yards. He always wanted to do everything the right way.”
In addition to his devotion to Leflore County students, Mr. Adams advanced technological systems for schools and county government. Certified in computer science, he wrote software to enhance the education and administration of East School and wrote ac-counting programs for friends to use in their businesses long before such software was widely commercially available.
He applied that technological know-how as well when he retired as an educator and became a chancery court administrator.
“When working for Judge Jon Barnwell, he ended up writing a bookkeeping program for the juvenile detention center to keep track of billing,” said Kevin. “That program was in use for at least 15 years. He had a passion for it. I think the only reason it was replaced was that there were no programmers left who could use that old language. But it was cutting-edge at the time he wrote it, and he gave it to the county for free. This was back when software was crazy expensive. It fascinated him. He always jumped into anything with both feet.”
Kevin Adams and Lubiani agreed Mr. Adams could accomplish anything he put his mind to. “And he put his mind to many things,” the son said.
Lubiani met Mr. Adams in 1974 at a high school football game they were officiating. “He was a student of the game,” Lubiani said.
“If we had a situation on the field, we’d call each other to see how we would handle it, and more than likely, he’d be right. You wouldn’t even attempt to break the rules with Jackie.”
They also bonded over a new sport in Leflore County at the time, racquetball. “Mississippi Valley had the only court around, and they generously let us use it,” Lubiani said. “We’d play racquetball for hours. We became fast friends.”
Golf was also a passion for both men. “We played golf together for many, many years. He was a stickler for the rules and made sure everyone else abided by them. He always knew everybody’s score. You didn’t have to worry about keeping track because Jackie always knew.”
Kevin Adams described his father not just as a natural leader and manager but as someone who appreciated the finer things. “He was a voracious reader and lover of literature and poetry,” Kevin said. “One of his most cherished possessions was a beautiful boxed set of Ella Fitzgerald he got as a graduation present from high school.”
Mr. Adams had “no gray, only black or white,” his son remembered. “He did not understand making exceptions to your own moral code. He did what was right or had no more patience with you.”
Lubiani agreed that doing things right was “100% a concern for Jackie.”
“He might not have been correct in every decision that he made,” recalled Kevin Adams, “but he always decided things in keeping with what he thought was right.”
“He was precious and dear to me,” said Lubiani, who will serve as a pallbearer at Monday’s funeral. “If you had Jackie for a friend, you were lucky.”
“He was a rare individual,” said Kevin Adams. “He would tell you a difficult truth that other people would try to gloss over. He knew at the end of the day that he had done the best he could, and he could sleep easy at night.”
- Contact Dan Marsh at 662-581-7235 or dmarsh@gwcommonwealth.com.
