O. Raye Adkins spent more than three decades serving in public education. She concluded her career as an award-winning elementary school principal. She is the author of Letters To My Father: The Gifts and other narrative works. She earned her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Texas A&M University, and holds a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction and a bachelor's degree in English and Speech. The University of Texas at San Antonio recognized Dr. Adkins as a Principal of the Year prior to her retirement.
After leaving the school system she served several years as a national consultant for the AHA! Process of Houston, Texas. In that role she conducted workshops for educators from early childhood to college level and for organizations that serve children and parents living in poverty. She has also served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Weyland University in San Antonio.
In 2009, Dr. Adkins published Letters To My Father: The Gifts, a book of letters to the father she never met. Dr. Adkins' father, Raphel Orval Beason, died four months before her birth of in a World War II naval explosion. In Letters To My Father: The Gifts, Dr. Adkins chronicles through letters to her father her journey from pain and grief to miraculous gifts and blessings.
Her most recent work, "Why I Wore My Yellow Dress" was inspired by a gift of roses for Mother's Day from her only child John. John died in 2011, seven months prior her writing the narrative.
Dr. Adkins' interests are traveling and reading. She is an active member of Bethel African Methodist Church, the Ivy Readers Book Club and she holds life memberships in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP. She resides in San Antonio with her husband Robert who is also a retired education.
Additional writings can be found here. Visit letters2myfather.com and oramite.com for additional information.
