Carolyn Emma Adams

Carolyn was born August 27, 1929 in Concord, NH. She was the first child of Clarence Everett Jesseman and Vera Rose Jesseman (Clark) and sibling to Neal Everett Jesseman and Cynthia Alice Godown. She graduated from Concord High in 1948 and Chamberlain School of Design in 1950. Carol was a child of the Depression and had a resourceful DIY attitude that she carried throughout her life. She grew up in the era of gloves and heels and always took special care with her appearance - unless she was sledding down a hill with a granddaughter or renovating apartments.

On November 18, 1950, she married David William Adams and together raised three children, Peter, Cheryl, and Julie. Over the years, job changes led her family to move from NH to NY and finally to settle in Portland, Maine in 1966. Carol and her husband began to buy and manage apartment buildings in the Portland area. Good with budgeting and organization, Carol maintained the bookkeeping until age 89.

Carol was detail oriented, calm, and unassuming. One might not guess that, while in her 70s, she and a niece would happily canoe for hours from Friendship to Port Clyde (and back), with only a saran-wrap covered map of the islands to guide them.

She loved to travel, especially if it involved hiking. She hiked through Spain, England, New Zealand, and the Grand Canyon. Even at 81 she trekked 8-10 miles a day in Paris, eating an occasional pastry to keep her energy up. For 26 years she worked as a volunteer in the kitchen at the AMC Cold River Camp, both for the lasting friendships and the great hiking.

Carol enjoyed reimagining spaces, renovating her home and summer cabin and assisting in multiple updates at her church. Carol was a decades-long member of the First Lutheran Church, a place where her faith and friendships flourished.

Carol is survived by her three children, Peter Adams, Cheryl Adams and Julie Gregor; her four granddaughters, Elise Adams, Heather Adams, Audrey Adams and Jayne Michel and great granddaughters Piper and Ramona Adams.

The family thanks the staff of Falmouth By The Sea for their loving care of Carolyn.

In lieu of flowers:

First Lutheran Church https://flcme.org/

Cold River Camp: https://www.coldrivercamp.org