Plastics plant union chief found joy in aiding others

11/12/2005

SANDUSKY - Myrtle Jeanette Adams, 79, a longtime union president at the former Foster Grant Co. plastics plant here, died of a heart attack on Tuesday in the Firelands Regional Medical Center's main campus facility.

Ms. Adams worked at the plant for 25 years, from the late 1950s until retiring in the early 1980s after 15 years of service as the plant's union president.

Prior to her work as union president, Ms. Adams was a plant supervisor for 10 years.

She also volunteered for several years as a counselor for the Culture Center of Awareness and Serving Our Seniors in Sandusky.

For about six years and until the day she died, Ms. Adams was an administrative assistant for the American Red Cross of Sandusky through the Retired Black Caucus, where she worked in job placement for the seniors.

"Being busy kept her going. ... And she found joy in helping others," her daughter Wanda Parker said. "She was used to working for the union, negotiating different important issues. ... [So] she needed a reason to get up, get dressed, and get out of the house."

A native of Clarksville, Tenn., Ms. Adams enjoyed church activities and baby-sitting her grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

Ms. Adams was a member of Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church, Sandusky, where she was on the mothers' board. She was a former member of the Second Baptist Church, where she had been active in the seniors choir and the matrons club.

Surviving are her daughters, Jacquelyn G. Sallee and Wanda Parker; 12 grandchildren; and 21 great-grandchildren.

Services are at 1 p.m. today in the Second Baptist Church, Sandusky. Arrangements are by the Groff Funeral Home, Sandusky.

The family suggests tributes to Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church or the American Red Cross, Firelands Chapter.