Donald Richard Adams

Don was born on July 23, 1936 to Freeman and Louise Adams in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He graduated from Crawfordsille High School where he participated in football, wrestling, and track earning all-state honors in each. He graduated from Purdue University in 1956 with a degree in Engineering Design and worked for Bell Telephone Labs. Returning to school to further his education, he attended Butler University and was again playing football. He met his wife (Barbara Lee Voss) at Butler and they were married in 1960. During his life he worked mainly in the insurance industry starting as an adjuster and then as an independent agent.

Don and Barb lived in Kokomo, Indiana for several years where their two children were born. He moved his family to Longmont, CO in 1968 mostly to pursue his love of skiing. His Indiana love of basketball was once again kindled years later in Colorado when he was able to faithfully follow his son in law’s basketball teams. He had a passion for racquetball and played at every opportunity. Don had a love for water and boats. Over the years, he owned sail boats, speed boats, jet skis, and cabins cruisers, enjoying many summers at Lake Powell and Grand Lake. Don was active in Longmont Jaycees and the Longmont Rotary Club where he served as president and attended the International Convention in Melbourne, Australia. He was also a member of the auxiliary ski patrol at Eldora. He was a First Aid instructor and served as President of the the Boulder County Red Cross. He was on several boards including Parks and Recreation where he was instrumental in the building of Centennial Pool. After moving to the mountains, he became involved with the Lyons Fire Protection District and was on their board. He is a member of the Congregational United Church of Christ where he was a Moderator.

Don will mostly be remembered as Longmont’s Santa where he spent many Saturdays at the Times Call listening to children’s Christmas wishes and collecting their letters to send to the North Pole. He would entertain children as Santa at the Trojan Theater December matinees as well. He also played Santa for several non-profits. Often times, he would donate his services for a Christmas Eve Santa Visit to raise money at silent auctions.

Upon retiring, Don and his wife Barb enjoyed traveling to several countries in Europe, South America and Asia. They also extensively explored the United States in their travel trailer spending several weeks following the Columbia River and visiting the Civil War battlefields.

Don’s number one pastime was cheering on his favorite athletes in their respective sports. This began when his children, Angie and Scott became involved in competitive swimming at Sunset Pool. He spent countless hours driving them to practices and meets and standing on the deck cheering them on. As an athlete himself, this brought him the greatest joy. When his grandchildren, Kendall and Lindsay started competing, he rarely missed an event. He followed them faithfully to watch soccer, swimming, basketball, and track. This continued while they competed at Bethany College and CSU. He had a baseball cap for every school they attended and wore them with pride.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara Adams, sister, Diana McCollough, his children Angie Banning (Bob), and Scott Adams, grandchildren Kendall Banning (Jade), and Lindsay Alguire (Adam) and five great-grandchildren, Rhett, Zan, and Bex Banning, and Leighton and Jordan Alguire. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com for the Adams family.