CARRIE MOORE ADAMSON

HONORARY PRESIDENT TOUCHED MANY LIVES IN GENEALOGICAL COMMUNITY

In Chaucer's "The Cleric's Tale" the cleric devotes his life to books, wanting to have at least twenty at the head of his bed. Books are essential for those destined to "gladly learn and gladly teach" even if, as Carrie Adamson often exclaimed, "My house is sinking in the middle with books!" and her work carrel in the AGS library overflowed with volumes waiting to be processed.

Carrie Moore Adamson, charter president of the Augusta Genealogical Society, passed away in Augusta on July 6, 2011. Local genealogical interest over three decades ago led to the formation of the Society and later to the establishment of the AGS Adamson Library on Broad Street.

Born the adventurous and intellectual daughter of parents in Pennsylvania, she was named for the grandmother who taught her the names of wild flowers and a reverence for ancestors during walks through a family cemetery. She breezed through a state test that eighth graders in Pennsylvania were required to pass to enter high school by scoring fifth among 924 applicants and delivered a commencement address entitled "What Youth Owes A World at War" six months after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Years in post-war Europe, independent study in Japan, and an assortment of hobbies and interests during years on military posts throughout the U.S. preceded the move to Augusta and enrollment in the University of Georgia School of Journalism, where she studied international affairs with former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and wrote two theses, one on classical Greek mythology. The same dedication to scholarship was applied to AGS projects and its library. Carrie was responsible for adapting the modified Library of Congress classification system to a specialty system that places references in logical order in categories used by genealogists for productive research.

Endearing qualities were her compassion for people and her generosity of time and knowledge. She offered suggestions to novice researchers and pointed experienced ones toward obscure sources and new perspectives. Always a lifelong learner and teacher, she enjoyed discovery and saw beauty in both nature and memorial symbolism. She had a wonderful sense of humor and laughed at human predicaments encountered in genealogy and life. She did "gladly learn and gladly teach" for over eighty years and will be remembered by the many lives she touched.