John Winston Adkins, 79, of Hayesville, passed away Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, at his residence surrounded by family, after a long battle with prostate cancer.
He was born Jan. 20, 1943, to the late Robert M. and Laura Black Adkins.
He grew up in Murphy, and graduated from Murphy High School in 1961 as well as from Western Carolina University in 1965 with a degree in Business Administration.
He worked briefly for International Harvester in Charlotte before leaving to look for another job at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga., in the personnel office.
He served in the U.S. Army at Fort Knox and was sent to Bremerhaven, Germany. He was stationed at the base hospital and was in charge of the motor pool.
After his tour in the Army, he returned to Warner Robins Air Force Base, where he was later promoted to chief of the Labor Relations Office.
John was very artistic. He loved his yard and always had it beautifully landscaped with a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees.
He was a member of the Gem and Mineral Society in Macon, Ga., was an avid rock hound, and collected rocks on his trips to see the United States and Canada. John cut and polished many of the stones he collected and created cabochons, mounting them to create one-of-a-kind beautiful pieces of jewelry.
He was a member of Christ Methodist Church in Warner Robins. When his church was planning to build a new sanctuary, the pastor knew that he created beautiful stained glass pieces. John was asked if he would build the stained glass windows for the new sanctuary. He had a year to complete 10 windows. John asked for volunteers from his church and trained the men who volunteered how to work with glass. The designs depicted the life of Christ from birth to crucifixion and were sketched and then drawn to the actual size of each window. John and his team began the year long project and the men learned quickly with John’s guidance. The windows were ready to install and dedicate when the church was finished.
John also created custom stained glass windows for homes in the Warner Robins and Macon area and his own home.
When it was close to retirement time, John and Beverly bought her father’s house on the lake in Hayesville from Beverly’s siblings. They started coming to Hayesville nearly every weekend to work on the house, and it didn’t take long for both of them to fall in love with Hayesville. They sold their dream home in Warner Robins and moved to Hayesville in 1996, where he became active in Hayesville projects.
He hiked mountain trails, did trail maintenance and was known to come to the square to clean it up before a scheduled event.
John helped with the Cherokee Exhibit and Trail, the Historic Hayesville Museum cleaning and set up, and was instrumental in the Barn Quilt project, where he designed, painted and built all the frames as long as his health allowed.
John is survived by his wife of 58 years, Beverly; his son, Mark Adkins and wife Linda of Hayesville; three wonderful granddaughters, Hayley, Kelley and Emily Adkins; his sister, Flora Jones of Hiawassee, Ga.; and cousin, Cheryl Amos.
The family will receive friends from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville. Military honors will be provided at 3 p.m. with the Rev. Donny Edwards officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made in memory of John Winston Adkins to Historic Hayesville Inc. (Sculpture Fund), P.O. Box 11, Hayesville, NC 28904.
Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville, is in charge of arrangements.
An online guest register is available at www.iviefuneralhome.com.