Cedric Adams

A true Minnesota icon, Cedric Adams was a newspaper columnist, radio personality, newscaster, variety show emcee and more, whose name was known by almost everyone in the Upper Midwest in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Cedric's folksy humor, infectious laugh, and provincial style endeared him to his audiences. He died Saturday night in Austin, Minn of a heart attack. A public funeral service will be 2 pm Tuesday in Plymouth Congregational church, with reviewal beginning at 1 pm. Visitation at Welander-Quist west chapel, will begin at 4 pm today. Private graveside services for the family and close friends will take place in Lakewood cemetery following the church service. Adams, 58, of Hopkins, suffered an initial heart seizure three months ago and curtailed his work load. He appeared to be making satisfactory progress toward recovery. He went to Austin for a weekend rest with Mrs Adams and his son and daughter in law, Mr and Mrs David Adams, and there became ill and was hospitalized. David Adams said that up to the last moment, he was joking with hospital nurses. Born May 27, 1902, in Adrian, Minn., Adams as a child lived in Magnolia, Minn., which he made famous with his small town reminiscences. At the age of 12 he moved to Minneapolis, attended Emerson school and Central High School here, then the University of Minnesota. He attended university classes off and on for nine years, between periods of work, before gaining a degree, meanwhile earning money as a dance band drummer and humor columnist for Minnesota Daily, university newspaper. After several other jobs he joined the Minneapolis Star in 1926 as a rewrite man, while also writing a humor column. Two years later he moved to Fawcett publishing house as a magazine editor, and began to freelance in radio br oadcasting. He wrote a weekly column for Minneapolis Shopping News. In October 1935 he returned to the Star to write the column "In This Corner". Married in 1931 to Bernice Lemont, Virginia, Minn., whom he had met at the university, he established her in his writings as "The Bride". They became parents of three sons, David now 27, Cedric Jr.,24, and Stephen, 22. He had planned soon to go to California to visit Stephen, a student at Stanford University. A wide ranging writer with a breezy, folksy style, Adams became known as a man of complete equanimity, an expert reporter, with an eye for the humor to such, and a worker of inexhaustible energy, with the ability to catnap at any free period. At one time his weekly schedule of radio shows ran into the dozens, beside which he wrote columns daily for the Minneapolis Star and for the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune. Author also of several books, he was frequently quoted in magazines, and he and his family were the subject of many magazine articles. He was widely known for the personal appearances throughout the Upper Midwest, and had traveled extensively in search of special column material. He was crowned, a few years ago, the "Duke of Magnolia" by his home town. He was known for many columns asking help for the needy. In this vein the family has asked that memorials be sent to the Heart Fund, Little Sisters of the Poor, or the charity of the donors choice. He resumed much of his schedule after the initial heart seizure last November, but in recent weeks res tricted himself to radio and the Sunday newspaper column. Once a summer replacement for Arthur Godfrey on network television, Adams had turned down many offers to leave Minneapolis, saying he preferred this atmoshere to any other.