By By Lee Weyhrich
Big band music lovers Adiel C. and Helen C. Adams skipped the Light Fantastic together after more than 53 years of marriage, on Feb. 28.
A.C., 78, died at 4:30 a.m. and his wife, Helen, 75, followed him in death at 7:30 that night
"It's been real hard to have them both die on the same day, but it seems really hard at first," their son Randall Adams said. "By the time we had the funeral we decided that's the way it should have been."
The Adams family has owned Escambia Glass since 1977 when A.C. and Helen came to Atmore from Jackson.
According to family friend Theresa Sutton, the couple loved each other like newlyweds.
"I always admired them for being such a loving couple after so many years of marriage, they had a beautiful relationship," she said.
Randall believes that his parents, who could find a way to be upbeat through anything, would want everyone who knew them to be happy now that they are in a better place.
"This is a happy sadness because they were suffering so badly," Randall said." They were upbeat people and I'm convinced they're dancing to the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra."
Since they had always acted like a young couple in love this is their chance to be young and in love again.
" They say when you go, you get to be young and beautiful again and I truly believe that," Randall said. "I'm convinced they're somewhere having a good time"
His parents would have been married 54 years on March 16, but they had not been in good health for some time.
"They almost made it," Randall said. "I wouldn't have wanted them to wait one more minute that they would have had to suffer."
The couple could not live without one another.
"They were a most devoted couple, they were very happy all the time, they were inseparable," Sutton said.
Sutton said that the Adams family was like her family.
"She was like a mother to me at times," she said. "They loved and supported their family."
Sutton has known the family for years.
"I worked for them for three and a half years, but I've known them for many years because Randy and his wife taught dance to my kids and I babysat for their children," Sutton said. "They were like second children to me."
Her experience at Escambia Glass taught her a lot.
" I worked for them in the early 80s and I had never worked before in bookkeeping or a glass company, they taught me from A to Z," she said.
Sutton said there was a lot more to tell, but it would be best if she kept it brief.
" You could go on and on and on," she said. "They were wonderful people, I think I'll leave it at that. They were wonderful people and they loved to dance to the big bands."
A.C. and Helen were members of First United Methodist Church.
Randall closed Escambia Glass for a week as a symbol of mourning.
"I stayed closed officially for a week because I felt that's what respect demanded," Randall said.
The death of his parents was made harder by his wife being sick. She is home now and doing better, Randall said.
"My wife is ill," he said. "At this point, she's having to be fed by an MG tube, but we're confidant she will get better."
His wife, Judith, has a condition known as superior mesoteric arterial syndrome.
"She lost too much weight and the arteries squeezed the bottom of her stomach closed," he said. "Unfortunately she's my other half and she was not able to be with me through my parents' death and that left a definite void."
Randall said the best thing to do though is be like his parents and think positive.
"I'm a very lucky man, God made me strong, he knew what was coming, you pick yourself up and you go on," Randall said. "There's no time for getting bogged down in a lot of sadness, that's what my parents would have wanted me to do."
The couple was honored with a small graveside service held at Oak Hill Cemetery.
Somewhere A.C. and Helen are dancing the light fantastic to the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.