M. Adela Eads

Mary Adela "Dell" Eads (; March 2, 1920 – July 8, 2003) was an American politician. She served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives for the 64th district from 1976 to 1981 and as a senator in the Connecticut State Senate for the 30th district from 1981 to 2000.

Early life Eads was born Mary Adela Diaz on March 2, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents, Edith Diaz (née Gilmour) and Manuel Diaz, were both immigrants; her mother from Scotland and her father from Spain. She had one brother, Manuel Diaz. She was also a member of the board of her local library and the vestry at her church. She was a member of the judiciary, banking and human services committees and became the chair and ranking member of the education committee. While on the latter committee, she helped pass the Education Enhancement Act of 1986 which raised public school teacher pay. Eads was appointed by Senate president pro tempore, Kevin B. Sullivan, as chairman of the select committee on children. She was the only Republican chairman at the time and was believed to be the only Connecticut representative from a party in the minority to be named as a chairman. She expressed that she did not identify as a feminist, although she supported abortion rights and voted in 1999 against a ban on partial-birth abortion. She received the Prescott Bush Award, the state Republican party's highest honor. In 2016, the board of trustees of the University of Connecticut voted unanimously to rename the Litchfield County Extension Center after Eads. The main building on the former Torrington campus previously bore her name.