The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Meet Your Neighbor

By: Misty Huston, The Quill

Meet your neighbor Valerie Adams who is the Administrator at Oak Lane and lives in New London, IA. Valerie was born in Gladstone and raised near Little York, the daughter of Carol and the late Jan Carns of Burlington, IA.

Her grandparents are the late Jim and Leona Carns. She has four sisters, Yvonne Carns who lives in Chicago, Jennifer Carns of Iowa City, IA, Casey Harris and Yvette Biddle both of Geneseo and an Uncle Tom Carns.

Valerie is married to Tony Adams who is the District Foreman at Access Energy Coop in Mt. Pleasant, IA.

They have four children, Olivia, who is 19 and is a sophomore at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, IA; Devin, who is 16 and is a sophomore at New London High School; Carter, who is 8 and in the 2nd grade at Clark Elementary and Evelyn, who is 6 and in kindergarten at Clark Elementary in New London, IA.

Valerie attended and graduated from Yorkwood High School, where she was active in volleyball, basketball, track, cheerleading for football and basketball, yearbook club and drama club. She then continued her education at Western Illinois University, graduating with Psi Chi Honors. In addition, she has one year of schooling towards her Masters at DM University for a Nursing Home Administrator license.

Valerie was previously employed at Burlington's Sunny Brook Assisted Living for almost 5 years as Executive Director, prior to that she was at Donnellson Nursing Home. She has been either Administrator or Executive Director at Skilled Nursing facilities or Assisted Living facilities for twelve years. Prior to that she had a career as a Social Worker and Social Work Consultant.

Valerie is a member of St. Lukes U.C.C. Church in Burlington, IA and often attends Harmony Bible Church in Danville, IA. She volunteers for New London Ball Association and the Burlington YMCA and coaches t-ball and basketball teams. In her spare time, Valerie loves to spend time with family camping, fishing, mushroom hunting, gardening and is an avid reader.

A special family tradition she enjoys is going on an annual family vacation to Florida where they go deep sea fishing. They also spend a lot of weekends camping with their children and annually have a four day camping trip/family reunion with Tony's extended family.

When asked about her outlook on life, Valerie said, "I believe in having a positive outlook on life!"