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 William H. Adkins II, 77
 February 17, 2003
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — William H. Adkins II, 77, 417 North Hemlock Lane, a former judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, died Monday at home after a long battle with cancer.
Born in Manhattan, N.Y., on Sept. 17, 1925, son of Leonard D. and Grace Rathbone Adkins, he grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Albany (N.Y.) Academy in 1943. He graduated from Williams College in 1949 and from Harvard Law School in 1952. He then moved to Easton, Md., and to Williamstown in 1990. He enlisted in the Army in 1943 and served in Italy in the infantry.
Judge Adkins practiced law for almost 20 years before becoming Maryland's reviser of codes, then state court administrator. He was appointed to the Court of Special Appeals in 1982 and to the Court of Appeals in 1986. He retired in 1990.
While in private practice, he was active in civil rights matters and in working for judicial system reform. He served as chairman of the Maryland Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Maryland Human Relations Committee and the Maryland State Bar Association Committee on Judicial Administration.
In his earlier years in Williamstown, he served on the Board of Health, the board of trustees for Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation and the board of directors for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, where he was a volunteer reader for many years. He also was a member of the Williamstown Democratic Committee and served as chairman for one year. He enjoyed hiking.
He leaves his wife, the former Janice Sharp, whom he married in September 1946; three sons, William H. Adkins III of Oxford, Md., Alden S. Adkins of Falls Church, Va., and Leonard D. Adkins III of Martigny, Switzerland; a daughter, Elizabeth A. Neuman of Milton; a brother, Leonard D. Adkins Jr. of Woodstock, Vt.; two sisters, Mary Emmaline A. Harris of Clearwater, Fla., and Grace A. Duren of Ann Arbor, Mich.; six grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, and a great-grandson.
FUNERAL NOTICE — William H. Adkins II died peacefully at home with his family on Feb. 17, 2003, after a valiant fight with cancer. Friends are asked to make contributions to the charity of their choice. Interment will be private. GEORGE M. HOPKINS FUNERAL HOME is in charge of arrangements
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