Adams, Charles H., 1903-2003

Dates

• Existence: 1903 - 2003

Biography

Charles Henry Adams was born November 7, 1918 on a farm near Burdick, Kansas. He received his B.S. in Agriculture (1941) and M.S. in Animal Husbandry (1942) from Kansas State Agriculture College (now Kansas State University) and a doctorate in Animal Husbandry from Michigan State University in 1964. He married Eula Mae Peters in 1943, who later worked as an assistant librarian at the University of Nebraska (UN) C.Y. Thompson Library.

From 1942-1946, Adams served as a nutrition officer during World War 2 with the Fifth Air Force and was stationed in New Guinea, Japan, and Texas. After leaving the military, Adams returned to Kansas State as an assistant instructor of animal husbandry and taught the first freezer locker operator short course in the United States. In 1947, he was invited by department head William Loeffel to the University of Nebraska to serve as an assistant professor of animal husbandry with a focus on meat. He taught farm slaughtering courses and later transitioned to wholesale and retail cuts, meat quality, grading, and types of processing when farm butchering courses fell out of favor. He coached the UN Meat Judging Team from 1946-1966, advised the UN Block and Bridle Club from 1952-1957, and was active in the American Society of Animal Science, American Meat Science, Association, Institute of Food Technologists, Gamma Sigma Delta, and the National Block and Bridle Club. He was appointed Assistant Dean of the College of Agriculture in 1972 until his retirement in 1983.

Adams received many awards for his service including the Nebraska Collegiate 4-H Club Who’s Who (1965), American Meat Science Association teaching awards (1967, 1969), Nebraska Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Outstanding Professorship Award (1969), University of Nebraska Distinguished Teaching Award (1971), American Society of Animal Science Distinguished Teaching Award (1972), and a Special Recognition Award from the American Meat Science Association (1974).

Charles Adams died December 20, 2003 in Lincoln, Nebraska at the age of 85.

Sources: Information for Charles Adams’ biography was taken from biographies, articles, obituary, and George Round interview (RG 08-09-13, box 6, folder 1). See also the Charles and Eula Adams World War Two letter collection (Ms. Coll. 855) at the Kansas State Historical Society.

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