By Beverly Belcher Woody
Some people leave their mark through wealth or public recognition. Others leave it through countless acts of kindness that may never make the headlines but are remembered for generations by the people whose lives they touched. Martha Shelton Adkins was one of those people.
Martha Shelton Adkins was born in Patrick County on June 14, 1923, to Posey Lester Shelton and Lillie Gray Shelton. She came from deep Patrick County roots. Her father was the son of James Henry Shelton and Wilmouth Walker Shelton, while her mother was the daughter of John Gray and Mary Ann Brown Gray, all lifelong residents of Patrick County.
Martha was the youngest of four children born to Posey and Lillie Shelton. Her siblings were Raymond Linville Shelton (1914–2001), Lois Minnie Shelton Morris (1917–1970), and Mary Wilma Shelton Allen (1920–1991). Many Patrick County residents will recognize the name Raymond Linville Shelton from the well-known R. L. Shelton Trucking Company.
On January 9, 1943, Martha Shelton married Emmett Elwyn Adkins. The ceremony was performed by the Honorable John S. Taylor, Clerk of the Circuit Court for Patrick County. Emmett was the son of John Doss Adkins and Drucilla Walker Adkins of Buffalo Ridge.
Together, Martha and Emmett raised three daughters: Beverly Ann Adkins (1945– ), Angela Renay Adkins (1949– ), and Lydia Grey Adkins (1951– ).
While Martha devoted herself to her family, she also became known throughout Patrick County for her tireless work ethic and generous spirit.
Her daughter, Angela Adkins Morris, shared treasured memories of her mother’s years in the restaurant business.
“She started working for Smokey and Ada Fulton at Smokey’s Grill. When Smokey passed, she later became the manager. I was in high school during that period of time and later in my second year of college. The restaurant closed, and she became manager of The Virginian Restaurant, which was attached to the motel. It’s now an office building.
“At The Virginian, she worked 364 days a year, often more than 12 hours a day. She’d get home close to midnight, read four or five different versions of the Bible, take a hot bath, and go to bed. She slept very little because she needed to be back at the restaurant by 5 a.m. to prepare breakfast and make biscuits so they could open by 6 a.m. She said the utility linemen had to eat early.”
Angela remembers that her mother’s concern for others often outweighed concerns about profits.
“If someone came to the restaurant and needed to be fed but didn’t have any money, she’d tell them to order whatever they wanted, and she paid for it out of her own pocket. She aimed to please everyone and learned what her customers liked, then fixed it.”
Those who knew Martha understood that serving people was not simply her job—it was her calling.
Angela also recalled her mother’s leadership in one of Patrick County’s most beloved Thanksgiving traditions.
“She baked turkeys for days—not just for the restaurant, but also for the Home Alone Mission that started at Stuart Baptist Church. She and another gentleman came up with the idea. The purpose was to help people who were alone on Thanksgiving. People who were able could come to the church for a meal. If they couldn’t, volunteers delivered meals to them.”
Before each Thanksgiving, Martha would travel throughout the county seeking donations from local businesses to make the effort possible.
“Home Alone was very successful,” Angela remembered. “A few years later, each community in the county started its own Home Alone.”
Her efforts touched countless lives. What began as a simple act of compassion grew into a countywide tradition of caring for neighbors.
Many longtime residents may also remember hearing WHEO radio announcer Jim Litten read The Virginian Restaurant’s daily menu over the airwaves. According to this author, he always ended the announcement with a smile in his voice and the words, “and good old ‘nanner pudding!”
It was a small detail, but one that captures the warmth and familiarity of a community gathering place made special by people like Martha Adkins.
On December 26, 2006, Martha Shelton Adkins passed away at the age of 83 at R. J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital. She had spent her final years as a resident of the Blue Ridge Nursing Center and had previously lived on Fairystone Park Highway.
Her obituary noted that she was a member of Stuart Baptist Church, had managed and operated the former Virginian Restaurant, and had been one of the founding organizers of the Home Alone Thanksgiving meal program. It also noted that she remained active in its fundraising efforts for many years.
Those facts tell part of her story. The larger story is found in the countless meals served, the hungry strangers fed from her own pocket, the early mornings spent making biscuits, the long days spent baking turkeys, and the many people who felt cared for because Martha Adkins took the time to care.
Patrick County has been blessed with many hardworking people, but few demonstrated the quiet spirit of service more faithfully than Martha Shelton Adkins. Her life reminds us that some of the most important work is done not for recognition, but simply because someone sees a need and decides to help.
And in that way, Martha Adkins left Patrick County a little kinder than she found it. Thank you to Angela Adkins Morris for sharing information and photographs of her mother. For questions, comments, or story ideas, Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or 276-692-9626.
