NEWBERN, Ala. — At 102, Charles Adams just might be the oldest elders quorum president in the Church, said Jimmy L. Largin, president of the Greensboro Branch, Bessemer Alabama Stake.

Photo courtesy Deloy and Nadine Archibald

Now elders quorum president, Charles Adams, 102, and his wife, Polly Jane Adams, are stalwarts in their branch. He also served in the branch presidency.

Brother Adams, who is a local celebrity because of his age, is steadfast and faithful and "by looking at him, you would never know he was coming on to 103 years old," said President Largin.

But there are hints in Brother Adams' conversation, such as the time a new fire station opened in Newbern where he lives. The town brought him out to be photographed with the building — the old and the new. The town also purchased a "new fire wagon," Brother Adams said, which isn't the way most people refer to a fire engine. He remembered in his earlier days in Michigan helping a man crank a stalled Model T Ford, and was given $3 when the car started. He remembers seeing German zeppelins flying over the countryside in the early part of the century.

Brother Adams often comments that the Lord must have work for him, or he wouldn't have been left here so long.

"He fulfills his responsibilities," said President Largin. "He still does home teaching, but someone has to take him." He also attends distant stake meetings regularly. He has served in the branch presidency three times.

"He is missionary-minded, and he wonders why everybody won't come in and listen and why there is so much unbelief," said President Largin.

It was a missionary-minded couple from Utah who introduced him to the Church, said Brother Adams.

"They came by our house looking for someone else and they started talking about the Church," he said. "It was really interesting. I started the lessons — it was something I could understand. I went quite a few months before I joined. I learned a lot. I took baptism, and I have been to the temple a couple or three times.

"The Church is a whole lot of enjoyment for me."

One of the people who helped him understand the gospel is Bishop Blake Archibald of the nearby Tuscaloosa Ward, who was a high councilor assigned to the Greensboro Branch when he became acquainted with Brother Adams.

"I'd go to his house looking for something to help with — prune a tree or fix a step, and he'd say 'Brother, come talk. We can mow the lawn anytime.' One day (after he had served twice in the branch presidency), he turned to me and said, 'Brother Archibald, teach me how to conduct a meeting.' "

"So I taught him how to conduct a meeting."

About four years ago, Bishop Archibald, who is the Tuscaloosa CES Administrative Coordinator, said that the stake president decided, after the deaths of several of the branch's Melchizedek Priesthood holders, that the branch had declined to the point where it needed to be closed. The stake president took Brother Archibald with him to the branch, where the announcement was made. Afterwards, branch members responded. Brother Adams strode to the pulpit and turned to the stake president. "It seems to me to be a matter of faith," he said. "I don't understand why we don't have enough faith to make this work."

The stake president said he had no good answer to that, changed his mind and kept the branch open. Today, an average of about 20 people attend.

The lack of growth, however, is frustrating to Brother Adams, who takes the whole weight of the branch on his shoulders.

"Men we haven't got," he said. "We can't get the men." He said their drinks from a can and a cup "are more important to them than anything; they are hard to break down."

His wife, Polly Jane Adams, who is some years his junior, said, "This, our Church, is a wonderful Church." She's tried to get her family members involved, and called on less-active members to come back. "We used to go out and visit them but they haven't invited us back."

She and her husband are sad to "see so many young people going astray. We've just got to pray for them. Perhaps we will be able to bring them back in. I do love for the Church to grow." — John L. Hart