Kathleen Adamson

Kathleen Adamson, 71, of Salem, Oregon, was called home to the Lord on October 9, 2026, after a year of battling pancreatic cancer.

She was born in Oto, Iowa on January 1, 1955 to Jack and Willa Lou McGarry. Growing up in Southern California, she was deeply affected by the Carmelite Sisters of St. Philomena school, and continued her devotion to the rosary and the brown scapular throughout her life. She also passed that devotion on to her children, teaching them the rosary and Divine Mercy devotions, involving them in Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and having them work at more Right-to-Life rummage sales than they would have preferred.

Kathleen met her husband, Roger Adamson, while working at her parents’ diner, and they married in Torrance, California on October 19, 1974. Not wanting to raise their children in the Los Angeles area, they moved to Oregon in 1981, a state her husband would frequently refer to as “God’s country” (especially after returning from visiting his in-laws in the Inland Empire of Riverside, California).

Special education was very important to Kathleen. She completed her studies at Chemeketa Community College and began her work in special education at Turner Elementary before spending many years at Oregon State Hospital until her retirement. She began her work in the hospital’s child and adolescent program. After the program closed, she continued her work in education with patients in the hospital’s forensics unit. Throughout this time, she taught religious education at St. Mary’s in Shaw and St. Joseph’s in Salem. Referring to her favorite preacher, Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, she would often remark how important it was to form children before the age of seven and even said the notoriously difficult seventh grade was her favorite to teach.

Kathleen cared deeply about the lives of unborn children and young mothers. She was involved in Salem Right to Life and Michael the Archangel, serving in counseling and leadership positions. Kathleen valued enabling mothers to care for their children, and she carried out that conviction in her own family, generously supporting her daughters-in-law who chose to stay home with their children.

She was preceded in death by her sister, Rosemary; her parents, Jack and Lou; and her husband, Roger. She is survived by her three sons and their wives, Robert and Vicia, Matthew and Kaleisha, and Christopher and Kristen Adamson; 16 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Salem on October 16, 2026. Those wishing to honor Kathleen’s memory are invited to consider making a donation to Michael the Archangel Pregnancy Center or to the Father Taaffe Homes and Pregnancy Support Services to support their work caring for babies and young mothers.