Charles E. Adkins, age 82, of Montezuma, died on Wednesday, January 23, 2013, at the Iowa City VA Health Care System in Iowa City, Iowa. A celebration of his life will be held 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 26, 2013, at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell with Pastor John Bushong, Community Hope Church of Montezuma, officiating. Interment will be at West Liberty Cemetery near Montezuma. Visitation will be held prior to his service on Saturday beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Smith Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be designated to the Charles E. Adkins Memorial Fund and mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home, PO Box 368, Grinnell, Iowa 50112. Memories and condolences may be shared with his family at www.smithfh.com. Charles was born on August 9, 1930, in Grinnell, Iowa to Granville LeRoy Adkins and Clara Viola (Stewart) Adkins. He was raised near Searsboro and graduated from Searsboro High School with the class of 1948. He honorably served in the United States Air Force as a Staff Sergeant. He served two years in the Philippines before his combat training and then was a mechanic in the Air Force for 21 years. He received the Good Conduct medal, Air Crew Members badge and the National Defense medal. He was united in marriage to Carol R. Helmer on August 1, 1976, in Vancouver, Washington. Following their marriage, the couple resided in Searsboro and he worked for the Lynnville-Sully Community School District as a janitor. Charles dearly loved his family, especially his great granddaughters, McKenna and Mallory Warden. For the past 15 years his family has gathered together every Sunday to eat breakfast together. He was an outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and hunting rabbits and squirrels. His other enjoyments were watching NASCAR races, the Speed Channel and Iowa Hawkeyes sports on television, and caring for his Beagle dogs. Charles is survived by his children, Charyl (Bret) Warden of Montezuma, and Greg (Angie) Floyd of Montezuma, 2 great granddaughters, McKenna and Mallory Warden of Montezuma; his siblings, Jerry (Earl) Beyers of Grinnell, Don (Kathleen) Adkins of Darlington, Missouri, Russ (Sandy) Adkins of Fair Grove Missouri, Bruce (Pat) Adkins of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Delbert (Marilyn Elliott) Adkins of Winter Springs, Florida, and Richard (Carol) Adkins of Arkansas. He was preceded in death by his parents; and his wife, Carol Adkins; and his sisters, Jan and Jean.