Wow! Well, to start you will be viewing my mom Janet’s adopted family who raised her and her other page will be the biological side we found thanks to her Ancestry DNA test. We met 2 of her half-sisters back in the ’90s, before the DNA test. Now after the test, I have found many more half-siblings, a cousin, and an Uncle. If you know any of the people with an *asterisk by their name, please email me.

Let’s start with her adopted family.

~~1920~~

Robert Lee Adams

BIRTH 12 MAY 1927 • Hastings, Adams, Nebraska, USA

DEATH 28 SEP 1972 • Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, USA

(Mother: Maude Lenora Fielder)

Christina Mae Otness

BIRTH 18 DECEMBER 1927 • Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, USA

DEATH 24 MARCH 2001 • Seattle, King, Washington, USA

(Father: Clifford Russell Allbrittion Otness)

(Mother: Hazel Virginia Stemple)

Robert Lee Adams was born in Hastings Nebraska, on May 12, 1927, to Maude Lenora Fielder. Maude married Heinrich “Hank” Adams in 1928 when Robert was a year old.

~~1940~~

Robert was in a bad car accident in his teenage years and was bound to a wheelchair for a time. At the time of filling out his draft card, he was just getting out of the hospital. His family moved to Portland, Oregon in 1940.

Roberts WWII Registration Card.

~~~~~

Robert met Christina Mae Otness and they married on February 19, 1949, in Waldport Oregon.

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Robert worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad for well over 20 years as a railroad car inspector.

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Christina held odd jobs and liked to work out in the orchards.

She loved plants like her mother and father did.

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Robert and Christina were married for 11 years when they adopted their only child, named Baby Girl-Sutherland from the Portland Children’s Aid Society. They gave her the name Janet Lee Adams. Janet had been in a foster home for her first few days out of the hospital where they named her Mary Ann. Christina was nervous that they wouldn’t let her adopt Janet because she had just had a Thyroidectomy. Luckily it all worked out!

Robert had just completed a physical to be hired on at Union Pacific Railroad when two weeks later, he suffered a massive heart attack when Janet was 16. That was very traumatic for the family.

~~~~~

Christina started working for Williams Air Control as an airplane air-brake maker. A few years later, Christina met and married Marion L. Bixel. They were married for 11 years. They lived in a Mid-Century House in Canby, Oregon, on a private community airstrip. I learned to drive at 10 years old on that airstrip road in my grandma’s car. The houses had to be 25-50 yards off the road and they had to have an Airplane Hanger. The only rule was that I had to drive into a neighbor’s driveway when an airplane was ready to land or take off. I only had to do that twice. Grandma’s house had lots of paved areas for me and my brothers to ride bikes and skate. Grandma Chris’s second husband, Marion Bixel, always had 3-4 old cars in his Hanger along with his 4-seater Cessna. My brother Chris and I got to fly with him once, and that was enough for me, but what a view of Oregon. If I can remember right (I’ll have to ask my dad) he had my dream car, a 63 or 64 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors. Grandma Chris always had a cat, a dog, and a big fish tank. Only the fish liked us, kids. Grandma Chris had a huge sea glass jar and it was always full of money. When Chris and I would get there, we would pour all the change on the carpet and we would sort all the money. She would then make us split it between the two of us (my youngest brother Jon was too little to join in) and figure out how much we’d have to spend on Lego at Toys R Us or at the mall. The Clackamas Mall in Portland, Oregon, had the best Hello Kitty store. Awe memories.

Grandma Chris and Marion loved to go on Cruises. They would always bring us back souvenirs from Alaska or wherever they traveled.

Grandma Chris and Marion were getting too old to take care of their house and the Airplane Hanger. Marion was starting to develop Alzheimer’s. Grandma Chris moved them to Federal Way, Washington. Eventually, Marion needed full-time care. I remember taking our dog Zach to visit all the patients at his care facility and how much joy it brought all of them. He passed away from complications from Alzheimer’s in 1992. He is buried in Canby, Oregon.

Grandma Chris lived at the Kloshe Illahee mobile home park in Federal Way, WA. It was only 5 minutes from the rink so it was easy to visit her. Christmas was her favorite time of year, not to mention it was close to her birthday. Every year after Thanksgiving all her Christmas lights would go up. The boys and I would have to help, but her plans always got more elaborate every year. Eventually, she hired a guy who could get it done a lot faster than us. She won the Best Lights contest that the community had a couple of years. I will try to find her news clipping. It would make her year.

Grandma Chris’ health started to decline and she could no longer drive, so she moved in with us (late ’90s) at the Lake Tapps house. Luckily the house was big enough for all of us. She got to spend quality time with her great-daughter Ashlee for four years and great-grandson Noah for two years. They were SPOILED great-grandkids! In 2001 she needed a hip replacement and she never made it out of the hospital. Many years of smoking made it too hard for her lungs to keep up after surgery.

When I get more time, I will be posting more pictures. Let me know if you have any memories of them.