The family was living in a home on Dayton’s Rung Street, now named Neal Avenue, when the Great Miami River overflowed its banks on March 25, 1913. His parents had been loaded into separate rescue boats when his mother, Viola, cried out that she was drowning, losing her grip on her 11-month-old son. His father, Charles, lost hold of his baby daughter, Lois, as he tried to save his wife. “Dad spent the whole night thinking that mother, Lois, and I had been drowned in the turbulent, muddy floodwaters,” Mr. Adams once recalled.
Miraculously, both twins were saved by separate pairs of rescuers; their parents also survived one of the worst floods in American history, which claimed 361 lives.
His grandson, Soren Gormley of Belmont, often escorted Mr. Adams to his many lectures around town, where the ever tech-savvy nonagenarian graduated from slide projector to PowerPoint presentation.
“When he gave these flood talks, he was a little rock star, and the ladies would huddle around him and want to talk to him, and share memories,” Gormley said. After one of his lectures in the ’70s, the sister of Mr. Adams’ rescuer, Elbert Riley, approached him and said, “I was in the boat that rescued you.”
“He was a very kind gentleman, and one of the last living links to that flood as we approach the century mark,” observed Alex Heckman, director of education and museum operations for Dayton History Inc. “But he led a notable life even beyond the flood, with his acquaintance with Dayton inventors and his early fascination with the electric car. His life was like a road map of life in Dayton in the 20th century.”
His daughter, Jeanne Philipp of Dayton, said her father’s role as lecturer and unofficial historian kept him vibrant and intellectually engaged. He also attended the weekly luncheon meetings at the Engineers Club of the “New Barn Gang,” modeled after the original Barn Gang of inventors Charles F. Kettering and Col. Edward A. Deeds. “His concern wasn’t so much that he was a ‘Flood Twin,’ but he wanted people to remember the flood and its consequences and historical importance.”
Gormley said his grandfather remained sharp until the very end, asking the nursing staff for his computer during his final hospitalization at Miami Valley Hospital.
Mr. Adams also is survived by his son James of Ann Arbor, Mich.; daughter Nancy Meyers of St. Louis; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be held Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Tobias Funeral Home in Centerville. A memorial service will be held Wednesday morning at Normandy Church in Centerville, where Mr. Adams was a founding member.
Former Montgomery County Historical director Brian Hackett said Mr. Adams’ death is an irreparable loss for the community: “We finally close the door on living memory of the Great Dayton Flood of 1913. It is like the passing of the last Civil War soldier in the 1950s.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@ DaytonDailyNews.com. To hear Adams talk about Dayton history in his own words, visit http://www.daytoninnovationlegacy.org/adams.html.
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