Ann Theresa Bamford Adams

Born  October 11, 1954 

Died May 3, 2007 

Buried in Woodlawn Cemetery

Wellesley, MA

The Rev. Dr. Ann Bamford Adams, long-time Associate Minister at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, died early Thursday morning, May 3, 2007 at the age of 52. She had battled bravely against cancer for over two years.

Dr. Adams served her community both in her pastoral role at the Hills Church, and also, with great advocacy and conviction, served on the board of the Wellesley Housing Authority, connecting deeply with tenants of Wellesley's public housing. She was still active on the Housing Authority at the time of her death. She was active in numerous church and civic organizations, including the Boston City Mission Society and as a Director of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Known for the freshness, candor, and great faith of her original prayers, Adams reached out well beyond the Wellesley community through her website Prayerswork.com which offered a daily prayer, and a blog which chronicled her life with cancer with a humor and endurance that encouraged many cancer patients across the country, and the world. Many of these prayers have been collected in her book Prayer At Work (Chapel Place Press).

Adams leaves her son, Thomas Craig Bailey Adams, and her husband, Reverend Craig Bailey Adams, Minister Emeritus of the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, of Casco, Maine and Wellesley.

In addition to her son, Adams is survived by her father, Richard Bamford and step-mother Dee Bamford of Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Adams' mother, Mary, pre-deceased her daughter. Adams is also survived by a brother, Benjamin Bamford, and sister, Jane Bamford Kennedy, her sister-in-law, Cynthia Adams Johnson, and step-daughter Catherine Adams Jordan and her family, and step-son Martin Adams and his family.

Adams was born on October 11, 1954 and moved many times as a child, graduating from E. O. Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut in 1972.
Adams graduated from Wellesley College with the class of 1976, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in Economics. She continued her education at Yale, graduating in the first class of Yale's School of Management in 1978.

Adams was working in the investment business in New York City when she felt called to ministry. She earned her M. Div. and D. Min. at Andover Newton Theological School and served at the Wellesley Hills Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, for over 19 years. Additionally, Adams served as Interim Associate Minister at Hancock United Church of Christ, in Lexington, and at Babson College, in Wellesley, where she was Protestant Chaplain.

Despite her grave illness, Adams delivered the eulogy for legendary economist Carolyn Shaw Bell, who was memorialized at Wellesley College, this past January. Bell had been Adams' advisor while studying at the College.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ann B. Adams Memorial Scholarship Fund For Tom Adams, payable to "Ann Adams Revocable Trust" and sent to Miriam T. Dever, Trustee, 11 Cass Street, West Roxbury, MA 02132 or the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, 207 Washington St., Wellesley, MA 02481.

A memorial service will take place at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 7th, following a 12 noon committal service at Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellesley. A memorial tea will follow the service at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of J.S. Waterman & Sons & Waring Funeral Home in Wellesley.