Obituaries
A Life Worth Remembering: Richard Adema, Owned RV Dealership
Visitation is Sunday for Richard Adema, who owned Adema Camping Center in Oak Forest in the 1970s and 1980s.
Richard Adema spent more than 10 years crisscrossing the country in an RV with his third wife and volunteering for Christian causes as a member of the Servants on Wheels Ever Ready (SOWERS).
“We had a wonderful time,” said his wife Gladys Adema (nee Baity), of Demotte, IN. “He had never done anything like that before he accepted the Christian life.
“We traveled the country from East to West and North to South,” she said. “We even spent two months in Alaska.”
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SOWERS is a Texas-based RV association for born-again Christians who volunteer their services for three weeks a month at Christian youth camps and churches. Mr. Adema became involved with the group after joining Homewood Baptist Church with Gladys.
Mr. Adema was no stranger to RVs, having owned Adema Camping Center in Oak Forest for several years in the 1970s and 1980s. The property is now the site of an Aldi grocery store.
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“He sold and repaired campers and RVs,” said his wife.
“He sold the business to one of his salesmen about 1987 and retired,” said his son, Howard Hannah Sr.
Mr. Adema died Nov. 18 of a massive heart attack while traveling in Branson, MO. The car he was driving went off the road and overturned in a shallow, water-filled ditch. Gladys Adema was trapped in the car but suffered only minor injuries.
“We had just left the Oak Ridge Boys show and were going over to see the Trail of Lights Christmas display,” his wife said. “We had just arrived in Branson on Nov. 13.”
Mr. Adema’s third marriage was unconventional. He married his wife’s sister in January 1996. Both of them lost their spouses in 1994.
“It was strange,” his wife said. “He had been married to my sister Anna for about 30 years. I think it was just a case of one person comforting another. I invited him to my church, and then one day he was there.”
Mr. Adema lost his first wife years earlier after building her a home in Tinley Park.
“My mom had three children from her first marriage,” said Hannah. “Then she had two daughters and a son with Richard after they married.”
Survivors include daughters Rebecca Adema, Nancy Adema and Judi Hannah; sons Howard Hannah Sr. and Jerry Hannah; 12 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. Another son, Larry Adema, is deceased.
Visitation is Sunday, 3 to 9 p.m. at . The funeral is Monday at 11 a.m. Burial is at Beverly Cemetery in Blue Island, next to Anna and Larry.
In lieu of flowers, memorials to the American Cancer Society are preferred.
