Stella Adams always figured a way to accomplish what needed to be done.
Her family needed money to live when she was a girl, so she quit school at 12 and worked in a South Carolina hosiery plant.
Years later, she needed money to buy an accordion for her family. So she made 3-inch pumpkin pies and sold them for a nickel each to construction workers in southwest Denver.
For decades, Adams, who died April 27 at age 96, worked with her husband, the late John Adams, in building, repairing and upholstering furniture.
The work that was “their pride and joy” was an 8-foot-long rug that was hung in the governor’s mansion library in Denver, said their daughter, Jacqueline Callender of Denver.
The colorful rug depicts what the state is known for: mountains, miners, flowers, aspen, bighorn sheep and bison.
The couple were members of the Colorado chapter of the Embroiderers of America and helped make and design the rug. It was given to the state in 1976.
Stella Adams learned to make hats and made all the clothes for her family.
“They were both hard workers and taught us to be,” said her son, Joseph Adams of Franktown.
Stella Lorraine Grubb was born March 14, 1909, in Gaffney, S.C. “and had a hard, harsh life,” Callender said. She gave her earnings, $12 a week, to help keep the family going. She met John Adams, an upholsterer, and they decided to elope. But the justice of peace in their county asked Grubb, 17 and underage, the year of her birth. She gave the correct year, her daughter said, and the justice wouldn’t marry them. So they went to the next county and she lied about the birth year. They were married Feb. 5, 1927.
They moved to various cities doing upholstery work and making furniture until finally settling in Denver in 1965.
At first, John Adams built chairs and sold them from the back of a truck. They eventually worked at the Del Teet furniture store on East Colfax Avenue, then made chairs for the Daniels and Fisher store. John Adams died in 1999.
In addition to her daughter and son, Adams is survived by sons Glenn Adams of Morrison, Elroy Adams of Nederland and Robert Adams of Aurora; 18 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; and five great-great- grandchildren.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
