MURIEL ADAMS

Muriel Odle Adams Muriel Kathleen Odle Adams passed away at her Rosedale home on Friday, May 26, 2017, just three weeks shy of her 94th birthday. Muriel who was "Middy" to her family and oldest friends grew up as the youngest of five children of Frank and Inez Odle in Bellevue, Washington, on a farm that is now a shopping center and housing development. After graduating from Bellevue High School in 1941, Middy attended Seattle Pacific College in Seattle, graduating in 1945. As a freshman at Seattle Pacific she met Marshall Adams, whom she married in 1946 and with whom she celebrated 61 anniversaries before his death in 2008. She was a grade-school teacher for the first few years of their marriage. They settled in Tacoma, where Marshall was an attorney, and raised their family of three children. Muriel's life centered around family, church, and service to others, both through formal organizations and individually. She was the first volunteer for commitments at her children's schools, at church, and in social and service clubs to which she belonged. Even past 90, she continued to volunteer at her church in preparing greeting cards for use and sale. She was a lifelong member of P.E.O. She tutored and served as mentor and friend for immigrants from Southeast Asia beginning in the 1960's, and maintained relationships with her students/ mentees until her death. After the children were grown Muriel became an artist, focusing on painting for an extended period. Later she turned to doll-making and card-making. For the last 30 years of her life she marked every occasion in the lives of her family and friends with a unique card hand-made for the occasion. Perhaps Muriel's greatest joy during the last three decades was her relationship with her grandchildren. She spent significant individual and collective time with all of them, at all stages of their lives. Holidays were important to Muriel, because they brought family together. The Fourth of July was the most special day annually because Muriel hosted her extended family for a picnic celebration every year for more than 55 years at three different waterfront homes, with gatherings that reached up to 50 guests. She is survived by all three of her children and their spouses Bart (Jill), Marsha (John Buchhammer), and Greg (Anne) five grandchildren, (Brad Dinsmore, Elizabeth Adams, Kelsey Kennedy, Katie Adams, and Teara Adams), and five great-grandchildren. Remembrances to Seattle Pacific University (Lillian P. Danielson Scholarship Fund) and the Tacoma Rescue Mission.