[pct-l] Mrs. Ansel Adams and 6' of snow in Tuolumne Meadows

[Bighummel@aol.com]

I came across this on the Yosemite.org site today:

Virginia Best Adams (Mrs. Ansel Adams) died at her Carmel Highlands home 
on Saturday, January 29,2000.  She was born on January 18, 1904 in San 
Francisco.  

Her parents were the artist Harry Cassie Best and Anne (Rippey) Best who 
met and married in Yosemite in 1901 after a whirlwind courtship.  Because 
they loved Yosemite, Virginia's father established an artist's studio 
there (now called The Ansel Adams Gallery) and Virginia spent the summers 
of her childhood and most of the next sixty years in the Valley, which is 
where she met her future husband, Ansel Adams.  

They were married in Yosemite on January 2, 1928. Virginia studied 
singing and performed as the housekeeper in the Bracebridge Dinner at the 
Ahwahnee for many years.  She is credited with two first ascents of peaks 
in the Kaweah area of the Sierra Nevada in July 1936.  After her father's 
death in October 1936, she took over the management of Best's Studio in 
Yosemite until 1962 when she retired and moved with Ansel to a home in 
Carmel Highlands where she served as a gracious hostess for innumerable 
events. 

Best's Studio (does business as The Ansel Adams Gallery) is run by 
Michael and Jeanne
Adams, son and daughter-in-law of Virginia and Ansel.  On the occasion of 
her 80th birthday, friends and family established the Virginia Best Adams 
Master Class Endowment at the Carmel Bach Festival so that gifted young 
singers could study and perform under established professional vocal 
artists.

Virginia personified quiet goodness and a pioneering spirit of carrying 
on, gracefully doing what needed to be done without complaint.  She was 
the perfect support for Ansel's remarkable creativity.  Through the years 
in both Yosemite and Carmel she provided a nurturing environment for 
family and friends.  She was an avid reader and collector of fine books 
and she instilled that joy of reading in her children and their families.

She is survived by her son, Dr. Michael Adams and his wife, Jeanne Falk 
Adams of Fresno, California; her daughter, Anne Adams Helms and her 
husband, Kenneth Helms of Salinas; five grandchildren: Virginia Mayhew of 
New York City, Alison Mayhew Jaques of Stockton, Sarah Adams of Lee 
Vining, California, Sylvia Mayhem Desin of Pleasanton, California, 
Matthew Adams of Fresno, and four great-grandchildren.

Virginia's sweet, thoughtful and peaceful disposition remained with her 
for all of her 96 years.  She slipped into another dimension on Saturday 
evening, January 29, 2000.  She will be greatly missed.

The memorial service will be private.  If friends want to honor her 
memory with a bequest, the cause closest to her heart was The Virginia 
Adams Master Class Fund at the Carmel Bach Festival (P.O. Box 575, 
Carmel, CA 93921).(Ansel Adams Gallery)


SNOW REPORT
Tuolumne Meadows reports 68" of snow, 13" of powdery snow fell Sunday. 
(Tuolumne Ranger Station)


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Best regards,

Greg "Strider" Hummel
* From the PCT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

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