Thomas Gwynn Adkins

Thomas Gwynn Adkins was born on July 23, 1921 to Thomas Frank and WiIlene Adkins in Shongaloo, Louisiana. He was the first-born son of the family. Soon to follow was his brother Rudy Adkins. As Rudy says they were really like twin brothers and were inseparable doing everything together. Both Thomas and Rudy remembered when their Mother started taking them to a small church in Bradley Arkansas; she was a great woman of faith and wanted her sons to grow up in the things of the Lord. Thomas often awoke in the night to see his mother on her knees praying to God that hers sons would be Godly men. Thomas said every time he and his brother were contemplating doing something wrong they would say, we might as well forget it, Mom will probably pray for us and wreck our good time. The two brothers continued to be close during high school and college even playing semi pro baseball and they were on the college tennis team together. In answer to the prayers of their Mother, Tom and Rudy got excited about their faith and started setting up tent meetings

It was in college that Thomas met the love of his life, Sue Furrow. This started a love story that lasted 71 years. They were married in 1941 and soon thereafter had their first son Thomas Jr. In 1943 Thomas entered the armed services and served in World War II. Another son arrived named David in 1945. After the war was over the family lived in Louisiana. Thomas and his brother Rudy owned and operated a laundry mat together for a number of years. In 1951 Thomas was again called to active duty for the Korean War. After a fairly short term of service he returned to the family and the Launder mat and he also sold tires. The third son Richard was born in 1953. While in Louisiana Thomas met Dan Piatt an on fire Christian who challenged him to give his life to the service of the Lord. In 1955 he left for Germany to work with servicemen overseas as a Navigator and missionary. In 1956 the family followed and spent the next 5 years in Germany. A fourth child was born in 1959, a girl named Janet. In 1963 Thomas moved to Colorado Springs to get training at Navigator headquarters at Glen Eyrie, Colorado. From there he moved to California where he began a ministry as Director of the Long Beach Servicemen’s Center to help military men find Christ. He remained the Director of the Servicemen’s Center and a full staff member of the Navigators for 25 years. In 1987 Thomas made a move to Redlands, Ca where he served with the Metro Mission ministry of the Navigators and became very involved in Emmanuel Baptist Church. His ministries over the years always involved his sweet wife Sue; he greatly relied on her for her strength and tireless work ethic. In May 2012 Sue went home to be with the Lord and Thomas struggled to live life with out her dear sweet presence. In 2012 he was officially retired from the Navigators after 56 years of service. On July 14, 2013 he went home to be with the Lord and will be greatly missed by all his friends and family.