Honoring an Amazing Life

Where could he be?

 

“Stephen had gone down to the creek in our back yard to catch little frogs,” his mother Francie Adamson Reed recalled one day recently. “He was always bringing home turtles and frogs and salamanders from his adventures in the woods.”

 

So began the Stephen Adamson story. It would continue joyously, purposefully, compellingly, and unabatedly for 40 more years.

 

As a child, the 1992 Collegiate School graduate spent countless hours at the creek on his parents’ farm: building dams, bridges and forts, looking under rocks for critters, swinging Tarzan-like on vines across the gullies, and developing close bonds with his younger siblings Farrow and Ben, his frequent companions, as well as their cousins and the neighborhood kids.

 

As he grew older, his passion for the outdoors, for nature, for exploration, and for experiential learning only intensified.

 

When he was 13, he spent his first of several summers at Teton Valley Ranch Camp in Kelly, WY. He savored his time there, absorbed the ambiance, and availed himself of the opportunities such as joining a crew of ranch hands that arose early each day and wrangled horses for the campers to ride. Mainly, he developed a love for the lifestyle, culture, and picture-postcard beauty of the West.

 

Whatever challenges the outdoors presented, Stephen was all in and often led the way. He enjoyed activities such as hunting and fishing, horseback riding, fox hunting, mountain biking, white water rafting, and skiing. If there was something to climb, chances are he climbed it and probably jumped off when he reached the top, sometimes into a cold lake or river.

 

After his 1996 graduation from Gettysburg College (B.A. in history, minor in business), he returned to Richmond where he worked in operations at Davenport & Co. for five years. He then headed to the University of Montana to law school and finally to Jackson Hole, WY, where he practiced estate and trust law with Gonnella Adamson, PC and involved himself with local non-profits such as the Center for the Arts and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

 

Along the way, he met Sara Scott, a 1995 St. Catherine’s graduate who shared his love for the West and the recreational opportunities that living in Wyoming provided. They married in 2006.

 

Life was great. His law firm was respected and flourishing. Stephen and Sara became involved in the community and enjoyed a supportive network of like-minded friends – most from elsewhere as they were – who were raising their families amidst the grandeur of the Tetons. They were living their dream. Every day was wonderful. Until that day.

 

On May 17, 2015, Stephen and three friends, all experienced in the wild, were “skinning up” the precipitous incline of The Sickle on Mt. Moran. The plan was to ski down. Out of nowhere, though, a slough avalanche – a freak event – caught them without warning.

 

Though the wet rushing snow barely covered their boots, it knocked them to the ground and down the slope. Luke Lynch, an experienced mountaineer and back country skier and Stephen’s close friend, died in the fall. Stephen was evacuated to the Jenny Lake Rescue Cache, then to the Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho Falls. He died two days later.

 

Saturday afternoon, family and friends will assemble on Collegiate’s North Mooreland Road campus for the naming ceremony for the Stephen P. Adamson, Jr. '92 Ropes Course. It’s a fitting tribute to Stephen’s test-your-mettle spirit, appreciation for teamwork, passion for the outdoors, and abiding desire to find value in the challenges of life.

 

“Stephen loved adventuring and pushing his limits,” said his brother Ben, Collegiate class of ’98. “He also really loved exposing other people to challenges and showing them how they could push their limits. Not exposing them to danger but showing them what they are capable of doing. Kind of what a ropes course is supposed to do.”

 

Tales of Stephen’s exploits abound – and no doubt will always abound – among his family and friends. He was a superbly skilled, technically proficient, savvy outdoorsman. He was meticulous about preparation, proper equipment, and safety. He had both strong intuition and sound judgment. He was the guy you wanted as your companion in adventure. And he had fun. Man, did he have fun!

 

That said, he understood well the perils of the back country. He knew the margin for error was often thin. He remained true to himself, though, and stout-hearted, undaunted, and fearless. Always fearless.

 

Sara and Stephen were raising their daughters Elizabeth (now 8) and Margaret (5) to have that adventurous spirit. They took them bird hunting, rafting, fishing, and hiking. Once, with a few hours to spare, Stephen and Luke Lynch put their older children on their backs, climbed Sleeping Indian Mountain east of Jackson, and returned home by the kids’ nap times.

        

“The thing about Stephen,” Sara said, “was that he didn’t waste any time. He packed it in. He did more in 42 years than most people do in their whole life. He knew life was precious. He had no regrets. He’d made an amazing life for himself. He couldn’t have been happier. I’m grateful for that. He was a strong person. He’ll always be with us.”

  -- Weldon Bradshaw