Glenn Lowell Adams

Glenn Adams
Panguitch, Utah

Glenn Lowell Adams died peacefully at home surrounded by his family on September 21 2021. Glenn was born November 4, 1951 in Quantico, Virginia. He was the fourth and youngest child born to Arthur “Scoop” and Jo-Ann Adams. Scoop Adams was an officer in the Marine Corps, and shortly after Glenn was born, the family moved to Hawaii. In Hawaii Glenn contracted polio when he was 18 months old, just a year before the Salk vaccine was made widely available. In order to ensure Glenn received the medical care he needed the family again relocated, this time to Oceanside, California.

Much of Glenn’s early life was consumed with hospital stays and corrective surgeries. It was thought he would never walk. Glenn proved that prediction wrong. While he never had the full function of his legs and spent most of his later years walking with a stick to assist him, he did manage to lead an incredibly active and mobile life. He was a student athlete at Oceanside High, competing on the swim team, and served as trainer for the football and basketball teams. Glenn loved sports and physical activity. When he was 17 he won the Boys Club National Pull-up competition.

Glenn joined the Boys Club of America when he was just 6 years old. His involvement with this organization lasted forty years, evolving from membership to full time employment. After graduating from Oceanside High School in 1969 Glenn attended college at the University of the Pacific, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1972. During the summers in those years Glenn worked at the Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood’s Camp 365 as a summer camp counselor. His love of summer camp, outdoor education, and working with disadvantaged kids led him to a career as camp director, primarily at Camp 365, but at other summer camps in California as well.

In 1981 Glenn married Laura Patterson, the love of his life and his partner on life’s journey for over forty years. Together they fostered children before having three sons of their own. Sam was born in 1987, followed by Joe in 1989, and finally Tom in 1993.

Together with Laura, Glenn packed up the family and moved into a green Dodge camper van they called the “Green Pickle” in 1990. This was the beginning of a travel adventure that would last on and off for the next 13 years. When the family outgrew the “Green Pickle” they acquired an old blue bird school bus that had been converted into a motor home. The addition of Tom to the family necessitated another upgrade to a 32-foot Southwind motor home. In these various RVs the family spent most of the ‘90s traveling the American West, visiting national parks, cruising the pacific coast from Canada to Mexico, and looking for a place they knew only as a dream—Camp Bear Paw.

They found Bear Paw on the shores of Panguitch Lake in Southern Utah. When they purchased the seasonal fishing resort in 1996, they gave it the name Bear Paw, which it still carries to this day. For the next ten years they ran the resort in the summers, and in the winters packed the boys (and their schoolbooks) back into the motor home for more travel around the west.

After selling the fishing resort Glenn embarked on a career as an accountant and spent most of his remaining years employed in that occupation until his retirement.

In addition to spending time with friends and family, Glenn loved to spend time outdoors in the forest, the desert, and especially at the beach. He was an avid swimmer his entire life, often competing on triathlon teams. In his 50’s Glenn discovered a new passion—handcycling. He spent the last twenty years of his life riding his handcycle all over the highways, byways, and bike paths of Garfield County.

Glenn had a positive impact on countless lives through his generosity, kindness, honesty, openness, and acceptance. He will be remembered by many for his readiness to extend a hand of friendship and help to all who might need it.

Glenn is survived by his wife, Laura Adams; his three sons: Sam, Joe (Batina), and Tom (Alex); two grandchildren: Ender and Noah; older brother Tom (Linda) Adams; and his two older sisters, Terry (Mike) Dawson and Ellen (Joe) Newman.

Glenn requested that donations be made in his name the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Cremation services have taken place. Memorial services to be held at a later date. Funeral Directors: Magleby Mortuary, Richfield, Salina and Manti. Online guestbook at www.maglebymortuary.com