Sigma Chi - University of Mississippi

4 "I'll always remember Adam's smile," Andy McCracken '87 added. "He was the best of us, and he brought out the best in all of us." During his college years, Adam served as social chairman, which was fitting seeing as he always knew how to entertain. Adam loved to sing and play guitar, join in on pranking his brothers (many of which involved Keith Rickman '87 on the receiving end), and just spend time truly getting to know his fellow Etas. Unfortunately, during his freshman year, Adam had to leave school to have a malignant tumor removed, and again during his junior year when they discovered he had Hodgkin's lymphoma. "We were in London on a family trip when my wife, Joyce, looked at a knot on his neck and knew something was wrong," Tad said. "Adam flew into Memphis and drove straight to Shreveport to begin treatment. e radiation made him sick, but he never once let anyone take him to his treatments. He said he wasn't going to die from this and that he would beat it. Little did he know, I followed him to his treatments every time, and sometimes I would catch him pulling over to throw up, but what was remarkable is that he never once complained." Aer graduating from Ole Miss, Adam met a girl from Birmingham, Jill, who happened to be in the audience for one of his performances. "Adam was a good-looking guy and a great musician," Tad said. "He and Jill ended up meeting aer the show and eventually fell in love and got married." Adam and Jill moved from Oxford back to Birmingham, where they had two children, Marshall and Kennan, whom Adam loved dearly. "ere was nothing in the world Adam loved more than his children," Bill "Barney" Robertson '87 said. Affirming this was John Giddens '88, Adam's fraternity little brother, who said, "His kids were all he mentioned to me. When he was sick, they were all he thought about." In February of 2006, Adam was again stricken with cancer and moved back to his parents' house. Aer he got sick, friends from across the country came to his parents' house to visit and share their well wishes— his Eta Chapter brothers included. "His fraternity brothers came to the house every weekend when Adam was sick," Tad said. "I had never thought of them as brothers until Adam brought them together and I saw how they interacted with one another. ey were wonderful with him, and several of them set up a trust fund for my grandchildren to use for their education. I've never seen such a brotherhood in my life." Adam's brothers noted that though he was sick, he always kept a positive attitude. "He had more troubles than a lot of us, yet he seemed very resilient to it," A Brother Like No Other (Continued from page 3) John Giddens said. "He handled adversity in a way that we can all use as an example." While Adam was sick, he would take many long walks with his brothers. Bill recalls Adam saying: "Everyone is expecting me to die; I'm going to disappoint them." Tad recalls Adam waking up one morning struggling to get dressed because he wanted to be there for Dan Jordan's investiture to the federal bench. "I asked Adam if he was sure he was okay and could go, to which he said: 'I don't know, but I'm going,'" Tad said. "I helped him get dressed and when we walked in Dan saw Adam and I thought Dan was about to fall right where he was standing." Toward the end of his life, Adam wanted to make sure that all of his friends knew he loved them. ough Adam didn't survive cancer this time, passing on to Chapter Eternal on January 18, 2007, no one could say that they were disappointed in him. Adam showed nothing but grace, resiliency, optimism, kindness, and love during the final months of his life. "He was in horrendous pain the last few months and there was nothing the doctors could do to ease it," Tad said. "Yet, he was always so optimistic." Adam was such a key part of so many people's lives; over 600 people showed up to his funeral in Birmingham to pay their respects. "It was unbelievable," Tad said. "ere were people waiting outside because the lobby was full." His smile and his laugh were contagious, he was always genuine, and he was never mean-spirited. Adam truly was everything good that Sigma Chi stands for. Outside of Sigma Chi, Adam was the owner of Southeastern Attractions until 2004 and was employed by Wachovia Bank as a financial specialist at the time of his death. On top of being an accomplished guitarist and singer, Adam enjoyed coaching several little league baseball teams. He also remained active in his church and served as an assistant scoutmaster for a local Scout troop. Adam was a loving father, son, brother, and friend who is deeply missed by all who came to know him over the years. "Look at it this way: we were blessed to have Adam for 41 years," Tad said. "Now whenever we think of him or mention him, we just smile because he was a neat guy. Everything about him was happy." "I may not have done everything in my life well, but I did friends great."

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