Kathryn Kay Adams

Kathryn Kay Adams, 80, of Lubbock, passed away peacefully on March 11, 2026, from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Born on November 14, 1945, in Sour Lake, Texas, to Floyd Joseph Harkins and Hazel Walker Harkins, Kathryn graduated from Hardin-Jefferson High School in 1964. The following summer she married Michael Adams, beginning a marriage that spanned more than six decades. As a military wife, she moved across the country with her husband before the couple returned to settle in Southeast Texas.

Kathryn worked for many years as a Bell telephone switchboard operator in Houston, Washington, D.C., and Long Beach, California, before joining the United States Postal Service, from which she retired in 2012. A proud breast cancer survivor, she faced life with Christian faith, Southern hospitality, and quiet determination. She had a gift for making everyone feel welcome, greeting friends and strangers alike with a warm smile, a generous hug, and a good story. Kathryn enjoyed stamp and coin collecting, hand stitching, and gathering antique Christmas ornaments. She also devoted years to genealogy research, tracing her family’s history and uncovering connections to notable people and events.

Together with close friends, she helped create a community cookbook of Cajun recipes for her church, China United Methodist Church. She was known for her cherry cheesecake, always baking two so there would be one to share. Above all, Kathryn cherished her family. She took great pride in being “Grammie” to her grandchildren and remained close to her many cousins, nieces, nephews, and lifelong friends.

She is survived by her husband, Michael Adams of Lubbock; her daughter, Erika Lee Brimberry and husband John Brimberry, Jr., also of Lubbock; three grandchildren, Josie Colette Brimberry, Callie Piper Brimberry, and Brilee Addison Brimberry; and her brother, Floyd Harkins, Jr. and wife Aleece of Hondo. Kathryn was preceded in death by her parents and her sisters Frances Burrell and Vivian Stines and their husbands. The family will gather privately at a later date for a graveside service.