I N M EMORY OF “ Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams, 33 o ”
by Sovereign Grand Inspector General Edward B. Darnell, 33°, Deputy-At-Large and Trustee, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church
The renown Pastor Emeritus of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church of Cleveland, Ohio, the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr., defines birth as a “dot” and death as a “dash.” The period in between the two, he calls life. The late Rev. Dr. Charles Gilchrest Adams’s “dot” began on December 13, 1936, and his dash coming on November 29, 2023, with the life he lived between, calling him to preach, teach, advocate, educate, mentor, lead serve and direct while carrying the banner of Christian love, fellowship and understanding all over the world. To even begin to speak to his many accomplishments would take up this entire Bulletin, with a call for additional pages, so in unfair condensation, I begin by boasting that he was MY spiritual Sheppard, as well as a member of my Lodge. He Pastored Hartford Memorial Baptist Church for over 50 years. Was President of the Detroit Branch NAACP, during which time he organized a successful economic Boyett against the City of Dearborn, Michigan, until they rescinded their city ordinance that bared non-Dearborn
establishing church owned business franchises along the busy business strip of 7 Mile Road not far from the church, which provides jobs for the unemployed. He not only has an earned Doctorate, but Honorary Doctoral degrees from numerous other citadels of higher learning and was listed more than once in Ebony magazine as one of the fifteen (15) greatest black preachers. He was a proud and supporting member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and a 33 ⁰ Scottish Rite Mason and members of the Leon H. Stewart Class of 1989. His son Charles Christian Adams succeeded him in the pulpit, and delivered his eulogy which he declared need not be long, for PA (Pastor Adams) as he was affectionately called had already ascended to the Holy House and is now sitting on the right hand of our God the Father in Heaven, and those that loved but proceeded him in death were crying Hosannah out loud, and asking him, “What took you so long?” The period between his “dot” and “dash” was full up, and he shall not easily be replaced.
residents (mainly people of color) from attending Dearborn public parks. He served as a visiting professor at Harvard Theological Seminary for a five (5) year period, flying home on the weekends where he often conducted weddings for his congregants and preached funerals for the deceased, then preached two sermons on Sunday morning before flying back to Boston on Monday. He built a low-income Senior Citizen Housing Complex known as Hartford Village which is comprised of 86 Units divided into one- and two-bedroom accommodations as well as some larger cottage dwellings. He ventured into the commercial real estate market by
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