Namesake’s legacy lives on at elementary

On Aug. 22, Robin Schumacher glanced down at her watch while in a meeting preparing for a new year of teaching. She realized that it was 32 years, almost to the minute, since her father, Kirk L. Adams, had been killed by lightning. Then she heard a tremendous clap of thunder.

"It's like my dad was sending me a message, telling me he's OK," Schumacher said.

Adams is the namesake of Kirk L. Adams Elementary School, 580 N. Fogg St.

"Last year we celebrated the school's 20th anniversary, and we told the kids all about him," said the school's principal, Rebecca Johnson. "It was a yearlong event. We asked the students where they thought they'd be in 20 years, and the teachers told the kids where they were 20 years ago. Mrs. Schumacher came in and told the students about her father."

Adams worked for the Clark County School District for 18 years, all but one as an elementary school principal. He served as the president of the Nevada Principals Association.

"He was very politically active for anything that benefited education," Schumacher said. "He testified to help get a bill passed that ensured that deaf students would have the same rights as other students."

During his tenure as principal of Thomas Elementary School, Adams helped get a wing for the deaf built. He negotiated with Las Vegas royalty to fund it.

"He raised the money in a clever way," Schumacher said. "He got Elvis' manager (Col. Tom Parker) to let them sell Elvis souvenirs when he performed at the International. They sold posters, jackets, postcards and all kinds of things. It took a lot of money to build that wing, but they did it."

Two of Adams's children have followed in his footsteps . Schumacher teaches at Givens Elementary, 655 Park Vista Drive, and her brother Kelly Adams, who is starting his 33rd year of teaching, started the year at Bowler Elementary School in Bunkerville.

"He made a big impact on us," Schumacher said of their father. "He inspired us."

Schumacher was about to begin student teaching and her brother was about to begin his teaching career when Kirk Adams died a few days before the fall semester began in 1981.

"He'd had a premonition that he was going to die," Schumacher said. "A week earlier he was with my brother at our cabin near Brian Head (Utah) and got caught in a freak August snow storm. He came home, changed and kept pursuing the topic that his time had come."

The following week, he returned to the cabin with his daughter Linda Adams. He was very open and contemplative. A totem pole he'd carved that had long been a mystery to the family was explained. Each face represented a family member, and he told Linda which was who and why.

A thunderstorm kept him up the night before he died, and his wife, Sheran, who rarely traveled alone, decided she missed him too much and made the long drive to the cabin to see him. She got there just as they were heading to their favorite fishing spot.

"My mom grabbed my dad and they had a kiss," Schumacher said. "He told her he'd missed her and was cold at night without her."

Sheran Adams stayed behind at the cabin while Linda and Kirk Adams headed off to fish.

"The whole way out he was telling my sister how much he loved his family and loved what he's done in his life," Schumacher said.

The weather was hot, but within an hour, a sudden hail storm came. The pair were under a pine tree trying to stay dry when the lightning struck Kirk Adams and traveled through his arm, which he had placed protectively around his daughter's back. Linda Adams was briefly knocked unconscious, and her back was burned. When she came to, she saw that her father had died instantly. He was 46.

Lightning had also killed a friend of Kirk Adams.

"He was a cowboy; he got struck while he was on his horse," Schumacher said. "At his friend's funeral, my dad held me and said what a great way that was to go, instantly. Later on, instead of looking at dad's death as a tragedy, we all said how wonderful it was that he went the way he wanted to at a place he loved the best."

The three siblings still share the cabin and visit it frequently with their families and children.

"Where he passed away is a treasured spot," Schumacher said. "It's still the best place to catch fish."

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.