Dorothy Rasmussen Adams died of a heart attack December 28, 1998 in Monticello, Utah.
Born November 16, 1910 in Ephraim, Sanpete County, Utah to Caroline Marie Dorius and Delbert Rasmus Rasmussen. When Dorothy was 15, her mother died suddenly of a heart attack and she became "Mother" to her three brothers and one sister for many years. She graduated from the University of Utah in 1934 and began her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse east of Monticello. She married Donald T. Adams on February 19, 1937. They were sealed in the Manti Temple in 1977. Dorothy was teaching supervisor for many years for the San Juan area, traveling winter and summer between the many schools in the massive school district.While living in Salt Lake during Donald's term as State Tax Commissioner and Public Service Commissioner, she was a regular volunteer at the airport for the Travelers Aid Society and at one time helped deliver a baby in the terminal rest room. An avid reader, she belonged to the Daria Great Books Club. They hosted an exchange student from Turkey and later visited him there. After returning to Monticello, they spend their winters in Phoenix where they did temple work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A tireless advocate for Monticello, she used her energy to promote the building of a community swimming pool, the establishment of a community garbage dump and a municipal sewer system, remodeling Monticello's first hospital into a golf club house, building a library, bringing a community concert series to Monticello and sponsoring many events raising money to pay for those concerts and other projects.
Working with an artist she created a miniature Monticello with all the buildings exactly as they were in 1888 and made a cassette tape describing each building and the original owner. It is permanently placed in the library and sealed in glass to protect it from damage.
After her husband died in 1991, she created the Donald and Dorothy Adams Foundation for preserving the history of Monticello and developing the arts. She first purchased and restored the historical home of John (Soapy) Perkins, the oldest home on Main Street, to be sued as an outlet for local artists and craftsmen. Using her own property next to her home, she built a beautiful park with trees and grass, a fountain, a gazebo and park benches, and then worked with the many diverse cultures in presenting free programs and entertainment for the residents and tourists. She then rebuilt the log church which was the first building in Monticello, and the first project in the state of Utah to be completed for the Utah Centennial Celebration. Continuing to use her own property, she built other replicas of the first buildings in the town, including a teepee, a pioneer home, a Spanish home, and a Cowboy Chuckwagon, marking them with beautiful interpretive signs. The log church has already been used for many weddings. As a personal project and tribute to her husband, she completely renovated all of the buildings on the old Adams farm in Monticello. She never ran out of projects or the energy to see them through until the day she died.
She was preceded in death by her husband and her son, George. She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne Halliday and three grandchildren, Tracy, Kit and Adam Halliday.
A memorial service was held on Thursday, December 31, and interment was in the Monticello Cemetery.
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