Charles J. Adams (Vermont politician)

Charles Jairus Adams was born in Randolph, Vermont, on February 17, 1917, the son of Charles Bayley Adams and Jeanette (Metzger) Adams.[1] His father served as an Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1949 to 1961.[2] Adams was raised and educated in Waterbury, and graduated from Norwich University in 1939.[3]

Adams joined the United States Army for World War II and served as a captain with the 3rd Armored Division during combat in the European Theater of Operations.[3] On July 5, 1942, he married Mary Ella Tobey of Belmont, Massachusetts; they were married in Leesville, Louisiana, while Adams was stationed at Camp Beauregard prior to his unit's departure for Europe.[3]

In 1951 Adams graduated from the Boston University School of Law and became an attorney, first in Montpelier and later in Waterbury.[3] A Republican in politics,[4] he was active in local government including Waterbury village trustee and president, and member of the town of Waterbury's school board.[5][3] He was also involved in several civic and fraternal organizations, including the Masons and Shriners, the Norwich University Alumni Association and the Norwich University Cemetery Board of Trustees.[3][6]

In December 1961, Governor F. Ray Keyser announced that he would appoint Adams as Vermont Attorney General to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Thomas M. Debevoise.[6] Adams assumed the office on January 2, 1962, and served until the end of Debevoise's term in January 1963.[7] He did not run for a full term in 1962, and was succeeded by Charles E. Gibson Jr., who had served as his deputy.[8]

Adams continued practicing law, and later moved to South Burlington.[3] He died on May 16, 2008, at the Vermont Respite House in Williston. He was survived by his daughters Mary Jean Sturgis and Carol Allen.[3]