Craig Alan Adams

Craig Alan Adams, beloved father and grandfather, passed peacefully at home June 3, 2025. He was born October 14, 1953, in Hutchinson, Kansas, to Jerald Lee Adams and Mary Ann Adams (Steele). He is preceded by his grandmother, Mary Steele, his mother, Mary Ann Adams, and by his father Jerald Lee Adams. He is survived by his daughter McKendra Adams; and his four grandchildren: Yemaya (“May”) Adams; Aurora Ugartechea; Benjamin Ugartechea; and Ephraim Adams.

Craig was raised in Hutchinson, Kansas, and in Security, Colorado. Craig graduated from Manitou Springs High School in 1971. He wrote for the school newspaper and organized anti-war protests both in high school at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He then worked as a steelworker in St. Louis, where he met an artist and bus driver named Jennifer Oswald through the Young Socialist Association. The two fell deeply in love and married. Craig became a credentialed Merchant Mariner and worked up and down the Mississippi River and all over the Caribbean as a captain of a sea-going vessel. He gave all of this up at the birth of his only child, McKendra Adams, and the family settled into a quiet life in Hot Springs. Craig next became an agent for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, and for many years helped many make the decision to protect their families financially. Craig retired and drove a taxicab in Hot Springs for several years. He loved to help the underserved of the town to get their groceries and make it to work, and would often tithe by paying the fares of the neediest passengers himself. When his daughter began law school in 2012 at the University of Texas at Austin, and struggled to find appropriate childcare, Craig moved to Texas to join his family and care for his grandchildren. From that time, Craig, his daughter, and grandchildren——lived together until his death.

His grandchildren love to remember how Granddad would take them to fill jugs of spring water in downtown Hot Springs, read them books, and tend to his bonsai trees on the porch of the home that he and Jennifer purchased back in 1979.

Craig had diagnoses that required him to live the final few years indoors. Fortunately, he continued to enjoy life surrounded by his family. Even when it became hard for Craig to process information, he expressed love through holding his family’s hands as firmly as ever and hugging. He loved the yellow flowers right outside his window. He always told his family that he loved them.