John F. "Jack" Adams, Jr.

John F. “Jack” Adams, Jr of Kensington, passed away on December 5, 2022 after sustaining a stroke in 2016 and a recent bout with COVID. Born in 1936 to Ruth (Craddock) and John F. Adams, Jack attended Berlin schools and graduated from The Taft School in Watertown where he taught his classmates to dance Rock’n Roll. He graduated from Trinity College where he was member of Alpha Chi Rho. He married Vera Raczkowski in 1960. Jack served in the US Army as a second lieutenant, and was a real estate appraiser and taught evening classes at UCONN. He was past president of the MAI and SREA appraisal organizations.

He loved the outdoors including hiking, canoeing, camping, skiing and outdoor photography. He was a champion swimmer when younger and played football in high school. He played rugby with the Berlin Strollers rugby club until he was 50 years young.  

Jack loved Cape Cod. He and Vera built a home in the woods in North Truro, where they spent many family vacations and instilled the love of the outer Cape to the next two generations.

Pop Pop, as he was known by his grandchildren, had a jolly laugh, and would take a bite out of their donuts (to be sure they were ok to eat), and for his famous breakfasts where the food was delicious and the kitchen looked like a tornado hit it. He loved cooking his specialties which were eggs benedict, Portuguese French toast, tollhouse cookies, Oysters Rockefeller – and his famous “Jack’s Portuguese soup.”

He leaves his devoted wife of 62 years, Vera, son John F. Adams III, daughter and son-in-law Tina and Rick Hans, grandchildren and their partners, Frankie Tenenbaum/Mike Hope, Rebecca/Josh Ricker, Connor Adams, Ben Adams, along with his son-in-law’s children and their families, Becky, Alex, Addy, Ethan and Olivia Barwikowski and Scott/Emma Hans. He also leaves his brother-in-law Richy/Marla Raczkowski and sister-in-law Charlotte Raczkowski/Jeremy D’Entremont.

Calling hours will be held at 11AM on Wednesday January 11, 2023 at Erickson-Hansen Funeral Home, 111 Chamberlain Highway, Kensington with a memorial service at noon. 

Jack’s family wishes to thank the staff at Ledgecrest and AccentCare who provided compassionate care to him over the past two years and considered him “one of their favorites”.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to help preserve open space in our community:  Berlin Land Trust, P.O. Box 94, Kensington, CT 06037. 

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