George Thomas (Tom) Adams Jr. was born to George and Al Ena Adams on July 10, 1925 in Wilcox, Missouri. He attended school at Shell Grove Country School and then Horace Mann High School in Maryville, Missouri. He was in the Army Air Corp during World War II as a radio operator on a B-24. After the war, he went to school at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, where he met Ardus Gaffney. They married in 1947 and had three children. In 1960, he received his master's degree at Colorado State College in Greeley and went on to Fonda, Iowa as high school principal. Tom and Ardus raised their family in Fonda and then moved to Lohrville, Iowa in 1976. In their retirement, Tom and Ardus moved to Shenandoah, Iowa in 2004.
Tom adored his wife, children and grandchildren. He enjoyed golfing, square dancing, wood working, traveling and gardening in his spare time. In 1996, Tom and Ardus spent the winter in Pharr, Texas and continued to travel to Texas every winter. Tom loved to play cards and drink coffee with his buddies.

Preceding him in death are his parents, his brother, Jack; his sister, Blanch Elaine; his wife, Ardus, and his daughter, Sheral.

Tom is survived by his sister Dortha (Gordon) of Twin Falls, Idaho; brother John (Mary Jane) of Gladstone, Missouri; son Bruce (Patti) of Shenandoah, Iowa; son Sam (Ellen) of Valparaiso, Indiana; 11 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.