Matthew A. Adams; Retired Machinist

Matthew A. Adams, father of 15 children and founder of Adams Metallizing and Grinding in Lancaster in the early 1950s, has died at a Lancaster hospital. He was 70.

Adams, of Lancaster, died Friday of a heart attack following a lengthy illness, said his daughter Cindy Adams of Pasadena.

Born in Charleston, Ark., Adams served as a technical sergeant in the U.S. Army’s 250th Field Artillery Battalion during World War II. After he was discharged, Adams came to California in 1947 and moved to the Antelope Valley in 1952. He then opened Adams Metallizing and Grinding in Lancaster, where he worked until his retirement in 1989. The machine shop is now owned by several of his sons.

Adams was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council No. 2455, Elks Lodge No. 1625, Moose Lodge No. 1926 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In addition to his daughter Cindy, Adams is survived by his sons Ron Adams and Phillip Adams, both of Rosamond, and Jerry Adams, Mike Adams, Mark Adams and David Adams, all of Lancaster; daughters Dianna Sanford of Ridgecrest, Linda Lawson of Pearblossom, Carol Adams of Davis, Calif., and Pamela Rawlings, Claudia Caldwell, Cathy Adams, Mary Adams and Annette Lynch, all of Lancaster; sisters Agnes Nelke of Canby, Ore., Pauline Keller of Homosassa, Fla., and Clara Hoffman of Gnadenhutten, Ohio; and 17 grandchildren. His wife, Rosalie Adams, died in 1989.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 45007 N. Cedar Ave., Lancaster. Burial will follow at Joshua Memorial Park in Lancaster. Halley-Olsen Funeral Chapel in Lancaster is handling the arrangements. Donations can be made in Adams’ name to Father Serra Parish in Quartz Hill or the Kidney Foundation of Southern California.