Major Elmor James Adkins, Usaf Ret

Our beloved father and grandfather, Elmor James Adkins, 88, passed peacefully into eternity at 12:28 a.m. on March 11, 2015. Born into the most humble and humbling of circumstances, Dad built, in the words of one grandson, "a legacy without price in value and without end in duration." Over the course of his life, he was a U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, a NASA scientist, an avid hunter and ace survivalist, an enthusiastic history buff, an artist, a craftsman, a skilled gardener and a passionate, dedicated patriarch. He has been and continues to be a tremendous inspiration to his descendants, having, in the words of another grandson, "contributed inestimably to shaping the person I am - in particular, the intellectual being that I am." Dad was preceded in passing by his wife of 60 years, our mother and grandmother, Valine Marie (Fullmer) Adkins; and is survived by his children, Jeanne E Marlow of Huntsville, Ala., Michelle M. Fogle of Fallbrook, Calif., B. Hollye Holmquist of Lancaster, Calif., and James J Adkins of Worden; by 12 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandsons; by his sole remaining brother, LaVern Adkins of Westport, Wash.; and by many other extended family members. A memorial service will be held in early April in Logandale, Nev., Dad's home for the last 20 years of his life. Interment will be at a private family gathering in Montana.