Dewain C. Adkison, 68, eldest son of Lewie C. and Lucy Vaughan Adkison, was born June 24, 1939, at Tribune. He died May 5, 2008, at Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston after a battle with cancer.
Shortly after his birth, the creation and construction of Fort Leonard Wood forced the family to relocate to the farming community of Solo.
Mr. Adkison grew to adulthood along with two sisters and a brother. He graduated from Houston High School in 1957 and received a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry in 1963 from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
While a student at the university, he was active in the Christian Student Church, where he met and later married Polly Sue Penn of San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 27, 1964.
They moved to Houston, where Mr. Adkison worked for Farmers Production Credit Association until 1984, when he became an investment and insurance professional until 2007.
He was active in the community. One of his highest personal achievements was serving as president of the Houston senior board and helping with the design, building and funding of the Houston Senior Center.
Growing up on a farm, he was proud of his ag roots and was a cattle producer. He was one of the first to introduce the forage crop, Caucasian bluestem, to the area. The task earned him a spot in the 1974 yearbook of agriculture.
He was a ‘want-a-be,’ and accomplished his goals to spend time with family and friends, work with wood and travel.
In 2002, he and his wife purchased an RV trailer and spent the next few years coving thousands of miles including a trip to the nation’s capitol, a cruise through the Caribbean and a couple of trips to the wilderness of Alaska. He panned for gold in Alaska and caught big fish.
As a member of the Mark Twain Good Sam Club, he enjoyed traveling with new friends, learning new games and seeing new places. Along the way, he gathered wood to turn into ink pens, walking sticks, shelves and other items he shared with family and friends.
He was saved as a young man, baptized at Simmons and was a member of the United Methodist Church in Houston.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Arlene Creason.
Surviving are his wife of the home; a daughter, Janet Adkison of Carrollton; son, David Dewain Adkison of Houston; a sister, Darlene Knight of Fair Grove; brother, Dwight Adkison of Houston; and two grandsons.
Services were May 9 at the United Methodist Church in Houston with the Rev. Tom Tomlinson officiating. Burial was in the Pine Lawn Cemetery under the direction of Evans Funeral Home.
Memorials may be made to the TCMH Healthcare Foundation for the development of a family resource center, the Houston Senior Center or American Cancer Society.