Bee Dee Adkins Jr.'s Obituary
Mr. Bee Dee Adkins Jr.
80, of Tucson, AZ, died on August 12, 2022. He was preceded in death by two of his sisters, Alpha Evans and Vina Bee Keeling, and brother William Lackner. He is survived by his wife of 58 years Gidgette ( Bonnie Irene Russell) Adkins, his sister Gladys Combs, his daughter Bonnie Bee Lancaster-Jones and son-in-law Frank Lancaster-Jones, his granddaughter Kyla Bee Lancaster-Jones, his grandson Kamron Lancaster-Jones and Kamron"s wife Alexandra Lancaster-Jones and also a soon to be great grandbaby girl due in early September.
Bee Dee was born in a ranger station on Mt. Lemon to Bee Dee Adkins Sr. and Viola May Brooks. His father's job was a big game control in Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. He grew up on a variety of ranches (without electricity) until the age of 12 when his father passed and he and his mother moved into Tucson.
He started doing yard work at that time to help his mother during his school years. He was in wrestling in High School and developed a lifelong appreciation of fast cars. He liked the ones that he called sleepers that might not be the car you expected to be fastest.
He met his wife Gidgette while attending the University of Arizona together where they both enjoyed card games at Louie's Lower Level. They married and he found work at Earl Ike Dodge in California where they had one child, Bonnie Bee. They also bred and showed AKC Silky Terriers. He then went into management with Firestone and eventually moved back to Arizona. He moved on into real estate with his business partner Sylvia Harlow-Gomez and became part of Roy Long's Million Dollar Sales Club. That led to him and Gidgette moving to Hawaii , The Big Island until the birth of grandchildren lured them back.
He loved camping, fishing , hunting, and cross country road trips with a lot of singing in the car. He knew many beautiful spots and if it rained card games were his favorite. He got together groups of family, friends, and coworkers to do these things. Bee Dee learned to hunt at six years old and learned from his father you do not waste bullets. Later in life, he would hunt deer, buffalo, and even a wild boar in Hawaii.
His home was also known lovingly as Adkins Inn as he helped many family and friends at difficult points in their lives and he even became a foster parent in his early seventies for Sheyenne and Michael Calvelleto because the family meant so much to him. He cared. He had a great sense of humor and made lifelong friends. He went to great lengths to keep in touch with people. He will be missed by not only his immediate family but by numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and many extended family and friends.
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