Holly (McMackin) Adams

KENT — After years of battling Multiple Sclerosis, Holly (McMackin) Adams, 69, died peacefully on July 16, 2018, while in the attentive care of the staff at Live Well Assisted Living Facility in Southington, Conn. 

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to the late MaryAnn (Dunn) and Frank Joseph McMackin, Holly grew up in Garden City, Long Island, and subsequently graduated from Georgian Court College in New Jersey. 

In 1971, Holly married Bruce K. Adams of Washington, Conn., and throughout their 46-year marriage the couple lived in Sharon, Salisbury, Cornwall and ultimately Kent. 

That same year, Holly began teaching art at Housatonic Valley Regional High School until her retirement in 2003. In addition to her unbridled love for art, teaching and Housatonic,  Holly enjoyed gardening, travel and time spent with family. 

Holly had many artistic and career accomplishments on her resume, including the creation of a series of illustrated recipes sold nationally by Balangier Designs of Fort Lee, N.J. One of those designs appeared in the movie “Tootsie.” Most recently, the recipes were used to raise over $1,700 for the Kent Food Bank. 

Still, Holly always pointed to her biggest triumph as being the mother of her two wonderful children, Samuel Adams (44) of Seattle, Wash., and Sarah Adams Osborne (39) of Kent.  

In 1978, to further nurture her passion for art in various media — drawing, painting, ceramics, photography, sculpture, weaving, clay figurines and computer graphics — Holly was awarded a master’s degree in art education from the University of Hartford, which culminated in a one-woman art show dubbed, “thesis on the walls.” 

For those many friends and colleagues who knew Holly personally, they would attest to the fact that she was not only an excellent teacher, but more importantly she was well-liked, pleasant, gentle, family oriented and unquestionably an all-around good person. 

Aside from her beloved husband, Bruce, and her devoted children, Samuel and Sarah, Holly is survived by six beautiful grandchildren, Ashton, Charlie, and Abi Osborne and Cyrus, Toby and Annika Adams; as well as her brother, F. Joseph McMackin III of Naples, Fla.; and sister Megan Hennessey of Manila, Utah. 

To celebrate Holly Adams’ extraordinary life, there will be an 11 a.m. funeral Mass on Friday, July 20, at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Kent. Interment at Flanders Cemetery will be private, followed by a celebration of life gathering at her home at 47 Studio Hill Road in Kent. 

Funeral arrangements are under the care of the Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon. In lieu of flowers, donations to Kent Ambulance, P. O. Box 355, Kent, CT 06757, in Holly’s memory are welcome.