Eileen Mary Adamson

Eileen was born to William and Anna (Moran) Meehan on December 3, 1929, in Brooklyn, N.Y., the middle of their three children. The family moved to Long Island, N.Y., where she attended elementary and high school. She was an excellent student, described as “bright as a penny” by her teacher. As a teen, Eileen was a varsity cheerleader, a member of the equestrian riding club, and a talented watercolorist who enjoyed taking art classes at Pratt Institute.

After high school, Eileen considered attending Pratt to pursue an art career but made the practical choice to attend Notre Dame College, taking the Staten Island Ferry each day from Brooklyn. After graduating with honors, she worked in Manhattan as an executive assistant for the president of a major life insurance company.

Eileen married Tom Adamson in 1956, settling in Brooklyn for the first 10 years of their married life. Over their long life together, the couple had five children. She was a loving and devoted mother, who made her young children central to her life with fond memories of polished shoes for church and sunny days at the beach. Tom’s job in textiles eventually took them to various locales from Richmond, Virginia to Shillington, Pennsylvania, and, later, they spent thirty years in Bradenton, Florida.

When her youngest started school, Eileen returned to work until her retirement in 2001, working for community organizations providing legal aid and mental health services for the disadvantaged. Eileen and Tom also volunteered for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) for more than twenty years.

In 2015, Thomas and Eileen, and their daughter Anne, moved to an independent living retirement community in Decatur, Georgia to be close to family. She joined the Clairmont Progressives, working with like-minded retirees in support of progressive candidates and causes and the Environmental Committee where she served as secretary and floor representative. She also rarely missed a musical event at the facility and rediscovered a love of dancing, often setting aside her walker to move to the music. Every afternoon she could be seen walking around Clairmont Lake right up to the end of her life.

Eileen is survived by her daughters Eileen Cohen and her husband Tom, Anne Marie Adamson, Jeanne Adamson and her husband John Iodice, Maureen Winkler and her husband Jamie, and her son Thomas Michael Adamson and his wife Michaleen. She is also survived by her seven grandchildren, Christopher Cohen, Elizabeth Cohen Powers, Clara Iodice, Louise Iodice, Connor Winkler, Briana Winkler Moulden, and Cian Winkler, as well as by many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Tom Adamson, and her brother, Bill Meehan.

Service pending. The family is grateful for the condolences, but declines flowers in lieu of donations to Atlanta Habitat for Humanity (atlantahabitat.org ) or Manatee Habitat for Humanity (manateehabitat.org ).

A service will be held at a later date at the Clairmont Place Condominiums for family and the Clairmont Place Community