Gerald Leon Adams, MD.

Gerald Leon Adams

Summarizing a life in a neat little column for a newspaper or two is quite a job, especially when the life in question is Gerald Leon Adams. Aren’t we all so much more than a sum of our birth and death days, the people survived by us and a list of our accomplishments? (How is it that the man who said, “Pull my finger” and used the same hands to heal so many is gone?)  Cancer, ever the cruel, may have taken Jerry’s life on August 30, 2016, but not his spirit.  His last days at Harris Hospice rang with laughter and his last hours echoed peace. 

Jerry was man of many titles: Dr. Gerald Leon Adams, Fellow of the American College of Surgery, former Chief of Surgery and Chief of Staff at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, where he lived most of his life; Captain Adams in the Air Force; occasional Mayor of Turn Three at Lowes Motor Speedway where he enjoyed many a NASCAR race for over two decades; but most importantly husband, father, and friend.

To his colleagues he was a surgeon with incredibly gifted hands, often the man other physicians turned to when they needed a hacksaw. Yet, he disdained pretention and often introduced himself as a mechanic – it just happened that he fixed people.  To his friends he was fun and funny, giving of his home and hearth.

Gerald Leon Adams was born on July 3, 1939 in High Point, NC. He couldn’t wait to get the heck out of there so he worked hard, studied harder and went to Wake Forest University on scholarship. Because he wanted to be a doctor from the time he could utter a word, he went to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and became one. His residency at Charlotte Memorial was interrupted by Uncle Sam and the Vietnam War. He served two tours of duty as a Flight Surgeon in the Air Force with the 100th Strategic Air Command and earned a Commendation Medal for “something foolish” (his words) also known as heroism, valor and saving a person’s life.

Jerry loved being a surgeon. He often said with a glint in his eye, “I believe in the healing power of cold hard steel!”  He worked until five months before his death, partly because he didn’t know what else to do and mostly because he loved it.

Jerry also loved a dry gin martini, a dirty joke, sincere friends and the pleasure of an evening with company.  He was an avid reader, devouring anything in print you gave him from the Harry Potter series to the Jason Bourne books to Outlander and The Color Purple.

The surgical world, his friends and his family are going to miss him. Jerry leaves behind a wife of 55 years, Tamoria Adams, two daughters, Heather Tullar and Camille Adams, sons-in-law Paul Tullar and Michael Killelea, brothers Michael Adams and Robert Adams, many colleagues and beloved friends too numerous to list here.  He also leaves a legacy of lives changed by healing, whether by his gifted surgeon’s hands or by compassion and kind words.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 10th at 12 noon at Carolina Funeral Service & Cremation Center, 5505 Monroe Road, Charlotte, NC, 28212. A gathering of family and friends to celebrate the life of Gerald Adams will follow at Hampton Inn & Suites Charlotte at Phillips Place 6700 Phillips Place Ct, Charlotte.(http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/north-carolina/hampton-inn-and-suites-charlotte-south-park-at-phillips-place-CLTSPHX/index.html) .

  His family asks that in lieu of flowers please donate to Harris Hospice ,PO Box 33549, Charlotte, NC 28233, where he spent his last days among angels in scrubs, and the Wounded Warrior Project (www.woundedwarriorproject.org).

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