Steve and Linda
Dr. Harold Steve Adams, a close personal friend of mine, passed away last Sunday. Steve and his wife Linda have known me since I was about 3.
As a kid I remember our family going over to the Adams family for an evening of good eats and conversation and fun-filled hours of childhood adventure. My sister and I had a blast playing with the Adams sons.
My memory is not so good these days. And it’s funny the things that one remembers. I can’t remember what we had such a good time doing as kids. I know it involved StarWars and G.I. Joe action figures. I do remember learning early on that when the call came from upstairs that it was time to leave, that really ment we had another hour or so to play before we actually left. If we went upstairs too early we’d wind up waiting an hour while the adults finished talking.
Steve and my dad used to teach biology, forestry and other things green, squirmy, or otherwise with a pulse at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge Virginia. Growing up I remember tagging along on many hikes with dad and Steve to go out and survey a stand of timber, or hike to the top of Big House Mountain to search for an endangered plant species. Steve and dad used to take their college students on a field trip to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. While my memories from those trips are few, I do remember many stories involving dad, Steve, black bears, long hikes, emergency room visits and general college student mayhem.
As a young college student I was fortunate to be able to join Steve as a chaperone for a Field Biology Governor’s School at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College for which Steve was the director. For 10 years I joined Steve and about 20 middle and high school students each summer for a back packing trip to Laurel Fork in Highland County Virginia. This incredible opportunity that Steve provided for me and the people I met as a result had the single most influential impact on me deciding to go into teaching. Because of Steve, I met several friends, mentors and future colleagues. I fell in love with teaching and learned how to engage students, ask probing questions, and develop critical thinking skills.
I remember many fond campfire discussions with Steve. In an ironic, but likely not so coincidental turn of events, the year after I graduated from college I started teaching at Alleghany High School, where I graduated from high school. That first year of teaching I had the pleasure of having Steve’s son Mason as a student in my Physics class. Mason (who we called Jeremy) was one of my best students. I remember a surreal parent teacher conference with Steve and Linda. It was a true full circle moment for me.
The Locust Springs and Laurel Fork area is one of the best kept secrets in Virginia. It is a high altitude ecosystem, and reminds me of a little piece of Alaska in Virginia. In my time with the Governor’s School I gained a great appreciation for this landscape and for the majestic beauty of red spruce trees. As I write this, I’m only now coming to understand that I probably owe this appreciation and the fact that I now live in Fairbanks Alaska to Steve.
Steve was a model human being. He was a strong role model to myself and countless others. Steve led by example, and inspired others around him to be better people. To me Steve was a teacher, mentor and friend. Though I no longer teach, I will never forget the intellectual catalyst Steve provide for me during a formative time in my life. Steve’s lessons continue to serve me to this day.
I have been in close contact with my parents and friends this week sharing pictures and memories of Steve. Though I was not able to make it back to Virginia this week I have felt the deep connection that Steve had with the community back home. I have been thinking about Steve all week and my heart and thoughts go out to Linda, Mason and Seth for their loss. I can’t possibly explain how much Steve meant to me. Steve, thank you for everything and I will miss you.
— John Haverlack