Margaret Florence Adams

1930 - 2021

Newton, Mass. - Margaret Florence (Ingram) Adams, 90, of Newton, Mass. died peacefully Feb. 21, 2021, from complications following a fall. Known as Florence, she was a lover of music and jazz radio. She was a professional singer of jazz and standards for over 40 years. Born in Providence, R.I. April 18, 1930, to William Ingram and Winifred (Steele) Ingram, she grew up in Swansea, Mass., graduating from Joseph Case High School in 1948.

Florence worked in a lab at Brown University, and then at Hospital Trust National Bank where she met George M. Adams, an amateur jazz musician. They married in 1954 and lived a music-filled life with trips to New York City to hear jazz. They attended the premier Newport Jazz Festival and enjoyed music and jam sessions with friends and fellow musicians. They settled in Riverside, R.I. in 1962 and raised three sons. She returned to part-time work when her boys were grown as a model demonstrating fashion scarfs and as an artist's model at Rhode Island School of Design.

She was active in the Unitarian/Universalist Mediator Fellowship in Providence, R.I. and volunteered with the East Providence Historical Society. A lifelong singer with a lilting alto voice, in her 40s she became a professional singer. Florence started with the East Bay, R.I.-based Strictly Sentimental Swing Band. Soon after she was singing with bands all over New England, and leading her own bands, performing at restaurants and private functions. The Florence Adams Quartet performed on Sunday nights at the Steak Loft in Mystic for nearly 20 years. She sang and accompanied the band on snare drum with brushes and hi-hat. She retired from performing at age 82 but continued to be an avid fan of jazz radio.

Florence suffered from dementia, but she remembered song lyrics and could sing until the very end. Her husband George M. Adams died in 2002. Florence is survived by sons, Douglas T. Adams (Natalie Malcolm-Adams) and Geoffrey C. Adams (Claudia Springer), both of Newton, Mass., Christopher G. Adams of Providence, R.I.; her sisters, Coletta Mayes of Hemet, Calif. and Eileen Enos of Riverside, R.I.; and two grandchildren.

Donations in her memory may be made to WICN, jazz radio in Worcester, MA. https://www.wicn.org/support-wicn/