Whether working for the Federal Aviation Administration or serving as mayor of Union City, Bonny Adams always carried one thing with him — his Bible.
“Anybody who knew him, knew he was a follower, not just a fan of God,” said his daughter Rebecca Spivey. “He would pull out his Bible and read it wherever he was and wouldn’t be ashamed.”
Adams was mayor in Union City from 1973 until 1981, and he served as interim mayor for a few months in 1993 after Fred Etris died while in office. While mayor of Union City, he worked full-time as an air traffic controller for the FAA. He came to Atlanta in 1968 for a job at then-Atlanta Municipal Airport and retired in 1994.
“But of all he did,” Spivey said of her father, “he always put God first and took care of his family second.”
Bonny Dee Adams, of Fayetteville, died Saturday from complications of a stroke he had days earlier. He was 76. A funeral is planned at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Parrott Funeral Home, which is also in charge of arrangements. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
A Sandersville native, Adams served in the Air Force in the mid- to late-1950s. It was there he learned about aviation and air traffic control, said his son Philip Adams, of Aiken, S.C. When his service was complete, he started working for the FAA in Birmingham, Ala., in the early ’60s. He transferred to Warner Robins in the mid-’60s and worked in a tower there before coming to Atlanta and retiring in 1994, after almost 35 years of service.
“He was one of those people who just had to stay busy constantly,” Cynthia Shaw said of her father. “Even after he got sick back in the ’80s, and the doctors told him to take it easy, he built houses and furniture and all kinds of things. He built almost all of the furniture in my house,” she added, with a laugh.
In addition to his three children, survivors include his wife of 54 years, Ann Ailey Adams of Fayetteville; sisters, Lacora Douglas and Janice Musgrove, both of Macon; brothers, Tom Adams of Jacksonville, Fla., Benny Adams of Milledgeville, and Owen Adams Jr. of Sandersville; 10 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
About the Author
