Ivan Lee Adams passed into glory Friday, November 20, 2020. He passed peacefully in his home surrounded by loved ones and listening to stories of good times they'd had together.
Ivan was born May 13, 1937 on a farm in Oberlin, KS, but the family moved to Nebraska when he was young and he graduated from Sidney High School in 1955. He lettered in football, basketball, track and golf and received the Kiwanis Club's Sportsman of the Year Award and scholarship for athletics, leadership and scholarship. He began teaching 6th grade as a young man of 19 and he completed a teaching degree working at night and summers. He advanced to principal of the school within three years while earning a Master's Degree in Elementary Administration in 1964. He moved to Longmont, CO in 1965 to sell encyclopedias, but soon went back into education and excelled as an elementary principal of at least six different elementary schools in the Longmont, CO area. He eventually completed a Specialist in Education degree .
The highlight of his career was being selected to be the first exchange principal with the Government of Victoria, Australia, and received their International Teaching Fellowship Award in 1980. In 1992 he was awarded Outstanding Professional Community Educator by the Colorado Association of Community Educators.
He moved to Windsor, CO and entered the internet business world which allowed him the freedom and opportunity to travel often to Hawaii and around the world. A highpoint of those visits was to England where he played golf in Scotland at Turnberry, Muirfield, Carnoustie and the Old Course at St Andrews.
Ivan never stopped serving schools and children and in 2003 he involved businesses, service organizations, citizens and friends, and especially the school children of Windsor, Longmont, and Katy, TX to help supply the Al Tawa'an Primary School in western Baghdad, Iraq with much needed supplies to be able to begin classes. Soon he was volunteering in the schools of Windsor and became an ardent fan attending any sporting event he could to support young athletes.
He loved the experience of running for and winning a spot on the Windsor Town Board as a write-in candidate. The years he spent on the Windsor Town Board and the Tree and Poudre River Trail Committees, and sitting as the Grand Marshall for the 2018 Windsor Harvest Festival were highlights of his time in Windsor. What he loved most about his time in Windsor was getting to know and work with so many great people in the community.
Ivan is the last to pass of nine children to Roy and Lina Adams. Also predeceased by his daughter Janice and two grandsons, Joshua Adams and Luke Adams, he is survived by a daughter, Michelle and three sons: Scott; Michael; and David, CO; 13 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Mark’s Funeral & Cremation Service of Windsor. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to TRU Community Care Hospice, www.trucare.org/product/donation.
A live stream of the funeral will be broadcast at www.bethelwindsor.com.
Online condolences may be made at www.marksfuneralservice.com.