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Funeral services for Spurgeon Wayne Adkins will be held at 4:00 p.m. Thursday, June 25, 2020 in the chapel of Rainey Family Funeral Services. Burial will follow in Sunnyside Cemetery. The family will receive friends prior to the service Thursday beginning at 2:00 p.m. Due to social distancing guidelines, seating for the service will be limited and all in attendance are encouraged to bring and wear a mask.

On June 22, 2020 Wayne peacefully flew away to his true Home. He was born August 20, 1933 in Adkins Community in Crisp County to James Moody and Margaret Virginia Barbre Adkins. He died in his home in that same community; where he spent most of his life.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Katy Adkins Singletary and two brothers, Moody Cromer Adkins and James Phil Adkins as well as two sons, Spurgeon Cromer Adkins and Marvin Wayne Adkins (stillborn 1956).

He is survived by his one and only love, his bride of 66 years, Carolyn Marie Hobbs Adkins; four children, Lisa (Jason) Houston, David Wayne (Elaine) Adkins, Wendell James Adkins, and April (Tommy) Riddle; a sister, Patricia (Harry) Carter;  13 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Wayne was a 1950 graduate of West Crisp School. He attended Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, completing his coursework there in 1953. While at ABAC, he worked driving the Crisp County 4-H bus. It was while doing this that he transported a group of students to 4-H camp and became smitten with a young Carolyn. They married five months later. In late summer of 1954, he volunteered into service to his country by entering the infantry of the U.S. Army. He and Carolyn moved to South Carolina, where their first child was born, and later were stationed for a year in Hawaii. In Hawaii, they were surprisingly surrounded by friends from Crisp County and one cousin from Florida.

Upon discharge, they moved to Athens where Wayne attended the University of Georgia and a second child was born. He received a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering in 1959.  Following that, he and Carolyn moved home to Adkins Community where they had three more children and lived a busy, active life in service to church and community. They quickly joined the church he grew up in, Bethel Baptist. He remained an active and dedicated member until his death. He served as Church Clerk for 57 years and was a Deacon for 61 years.

In 1960, they built a home on the site of the old Adkins School. They even used lumber from the school building in the construction of their new home. He settled into farming with his father and brother on land that was homesteaded by his great-grandfather in 1840. Wayne was named Crisp County’s Outstanding Young Farmer of the year in 1963 and served as President of the Crisp County Chapter of Farm Bureau. He was a member of the American Society of Engineers and a former Rotarian.

1975 saw him recruited by the World Bank to travel to the Republic of the Sudan as a consultant for the East African Development Project to advise on the use of equipment for mechanized peanut farming.

Two years later he opened Farmer’s Meat Market (later named Adkins Farms Meat Market) with his brothers. He continued farming and ownership of the meat processing plant until the mid-1980’s.

At age 59, he returned to UGA and earned a Master’s in Agricultural Extension in 1993. He worked in research for the University of Georgia Extension service for 27 years.

Aside from his years of work, his heart was truly in service. He volunteered for the Tent Ministry of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board for many years, Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief and for 20 years he and Carolyn traveled the country working with Campers on Mission.

Above all Wayne placed his faith in Jesus. He built a home with God at the center and taught his children that the only way to have a successful marriage was for that marriage to be a triangle with God at the pinnacle. He took very seriously his commission to share the Gospel and spoke of the Good News of Jesus often with those he met.

The family asks that memorials be made to Shriners Hospital For Children, 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607US or to Georgia Campers on Mission, c/o Mary Lowery, Treasurer, 5131 Barbara Court, Flowery Branch, GA 30542

An online guest register is available at www.raineyfuneral.com