Leon Adamson

Mrs. Leon Adamson passed away on August 22, 2018 at the age of 96.

Lacy Leon Dawson was born to Charlie and Laura Dawson in Calera on the 21st of July 1922. She married Claudius “Shorty” Lucas on Nov. 29, 1939 and she cherished this loving marriage until Shorty’s death in 1985. Leon and Shorty had two daughters, Carole Birchfield and Jayne Gaines who survive their Mother’s death and are joined in mourning by their respective five children and fourteen grandchildren who affectionately called their great grandmother “Gigi”!

In 1995, Leon married Carl Adamson and enjoyed a beautiful second marriage until his passing in 2010. Mrs. Adamson is also preceded in death by all of her seven siblings.

Leon Adamson was a life-long member of Enon Baptist Church, which she attended faithfully for 80 years. She was active in the church community volunteering for vacation bible schools, homecoming committees and helping to prepare and deliver meals and magazines to the needy well into her early nineties.

Leon will be fondly remembered as a matriarch of Enon Church, having on multiple occasions earned the distinction of most senior and longest serving member. Her Christian faith was steadfast and genuine and was surely what she would attribute to any form of praise or admiration she was ever accorded. Her family, community (Dry Valley) and church bonds meant the world to her and were her bedrock through life’s joys as well as its tribulations and sorrows, particularly the losses of her dearest loved ones.

Sustaining her through those difficult passages was her devotion to her Lord and Savior. Her favorite Bible verse sums up her long, well-lived life and is as simple as it is awe-inspiring: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Her daughters recall their mothers’ ability to recite the Twenty Third Psalm by heart and she did so on many occasions to weather some of her pain and life’s most difficult moments.

In addition to her faith and the centrality of church to her life, she was a fine and even adventurous cook putting pineapple in chicken salad well before it was thought of as “gourmet” and a life long endeavor of her daughters is to make chicken and dressing as good as their mother’s! None of the grandchildren will ever forget her famous Christmas Wassail and her incessant beckoning to have “just a nibble” from her “relish tray”!

Leon was a talented seamstress making clothes for her daughters and grandchildren and later quilts for the great grandchildren. She was also a gifted and prolific ceramicist leaving behind many a memento of her handicrafts. In her later years she also indulged her creative streak by taking up oil painting.

But she will be most remembered for knitting her “famous crosses” with the “cross in my pocket prayer” inserted inside. She was making up to 10 per day until the age of 95, which she had given away from Dry Valley to Haiti where Gigi’s House stands in her honor at Children’s Hope, the orphan ministry founded by her grandson, Andy, and his wife Tanya. Nothing could have pleased her more than using her talent for handicrafts to “spread the gospel.” And no one will ever forget her handmade Christmas angels she crafted from pinecones, cotton bolls and cornhusks.

Among her other delights in life, she took great pleasure in her flower gardens, enjoyed fishing and played a pretty mean game of Rook! In many ways, she was a “self-made” woman who in addition to her penchant for folksy arts and crafts, was a model of elegance with her own unique sense of style and fashion and she helped many a local patron find theirs too as she worked at Rochester’s Dress Shop in Montevallo for over 20 years.

It would be readily agreed that Leon’s most remarkable and defining virtues were inner strength, courage and unending gratitude. Her death just as her long, full life were testaments to these qualities and should be remembered and honored by all of those who knew and loved her and may this memory serve as a source of comfort and inspiration for those who will mourn her passing “into the arms of Jesus” as she would say.

One of her last prayers was “Father, we thank so you much for each day. It is a privilege to know you and we thank you for your love and care that you provide for us.” More than perhaps anything in the world, she wanted everyone she encountered to know the power of such faith.

Her funeral service will be held on Saturday, Aug. 25 at 12 p.m. at Enon Baptist Church. The family will receive friends beginning at 11 a.m. at the church. Burial will follow at Shelby Memory Gardens in Calera.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Enon Baptist Church or your favorite charity.