Vivian Bernice (Lee) Adkins (1924 - 1967)

Born 21 Nov 1924 in Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, United States

Died 19 Apr 1967 at age 42 in Nashville, Washington Township, Brown, Indiana, United States

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Biography

Vivian (Lee) Adkins is a part of US Black heritage.

Vivian (Lee) Adkins was born in Maryland.

Born in Frederick, Maryland, Bernice Lee attended Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), Petersburg, on a basketball scholarship. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health and physical education and began her teaching career in a Petersburg high school. In 1946 she married Rutherford H. “Lubby” Adkins, one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. She continued to teach, first at Virginia State, and later at Tennessee State and Fisk universities after the family moved to Nashville, where they attended First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill. In the mid-1960s Mrs. Adkins enrolled in a doctoral program at Indiana University. She was killed in an automobile accident as she returned to Bloomington from Nashville after a 21st wedding anniversary celebration with her husband and children. Although she was a month away from completing the program, the university granted her Ph.D. posthumously. Her unpublished dissertation, The Development of Negro Female Olympic Talent (1967), has been quoted in several books on black athletes. -written by Kathy Lauder for the Greenwood Project.

Sources

• Adkins, Vivian Bernice Lee. "The Development of the Negro Olympic Talent." Indiana University, 1967. ProQuest Dissertations, id no. 6712908.
• Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1967; Roll: 05
• Obituary. The Tennessean, April 21, 1967, Page 44. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-obituary-for-bernice-adki/79912994/ : accessed November 4, 2023), clip page for Obituary for BERNICE ADKINS by user SSAllen13
• Obituary. The Tennessean, April 22, 1967, Page 20. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-bernice-lee-adkins-obit/23273620/ : accessed November 4, 2023), clip page for Bernice Lee Adkins Obit by user b_mitd67
• Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
  Find A Grave: Memorial #7596620 (accessed 4 November 2023)
  Memorial page for Dr Vivian Bernice Lee Adkins (21 Nov 1924-19 Apr 1967), citing Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA; Maintained by Sheila (contributor 46581434).