The lives of Terry and Grant Adamson are what so many inspirational stories are made from: community service, great love, tremendous tragedy, the strength to overcome great loss and a remarkable way to cope with it.
Revered for their love and service to Malibu, the Adamsons have remained cornerstones of our community for decades. Grant, a lifelong resident and descendant of Malibu’s founding family, was widely recognized for his service to the community, his mentorship of young Pepperdine students and contributions to the Crest Advisory Board up until his tragic death in 2013. Terry is equally accomplished, having served as a Commissioner in the Malibu court, an adjunct professor of law at Pepperdine and philanthropist.
“I feel flattered and humbled to receive this award,” said Terry, who has lived in Malibu more than 30 years. “The part of it that means the most to me is that Grant received this posthumously. He loved helping everyone in many ways, from mentoring students to saving our neighbor’s house in the Malibu fires.”
While this Dolphin Award befittingly honors both Terry and Grant’s several individual contributions to improving Malibu’s community life, perhaps what is most inspiring is Terry’s remarkably positive attitude toward the couple’s beautiful 37-year romance that came to a devastatingly heartbreaking halt.
“Grant and I had a very happy marriage,” she said. “It doesn’t make me sad, I literally have him in my heart. I had 37 happy years with this amazing man, which is more than most people have in a lifetime. We were together since we were 18 years old, travelled the world together, raised wonderful kids, did things to be of service and built a great life for ourselves. He’s still with me.”
Extracting a positive lesson from the 2013 hot air balloon crash that killed Grant and seriously injured Terry and daughters Lauren and Megan during a family vacation in Switzerland is a seemingly impossible task. Yet Terry has adopted an attitude of appreciation for the blessings she still has, which include her children and the Malibu community that, she says, rallied around her family providing tremendous support.
“Grant and I always realized how important it is to be grateful,” Terry said. “Hard things happen to everyone, it’s how you react to them that counts. You have no control over what other people do and no control of what happens to you, but you have control over how you react. We can sit around, feel sorry for ourselves, complain and cry because we lost our dad. Or we can choose to move forward, make our lives the best that we possibly can, be the best people we can be and try to have a happy life.”
Terry, a devout believer in positive psychology, is focused on using her family’s tragedy to help others cope with various traumas.
“Everyone suffers huge loses at some point in their life,” she said. “Helping someone else get through their traumatic time will make Lauren, Megan and I feel like we are doing something meaningful and that we have a purpose.”
Now serving as director of externships, assistant clinical professor and trial team coach at Pepperdine’s School of Law, Terry is also on the board of directors for Serving California, a charitable organization whose work includes improving the lives of prisoners and their families, victims of crimes and military veterans. The nonprofit plans to use Adamson’s knowledge of the judicial system to help propose changes in law and revise programs that assist ex-offenders and victims of crime. She is also a member of Pepperdine’s Board of Visitors, the American Heart Association and the Hearts for Hope nonprofit.
Lauren recently completed her MBA at Pepperdine, and Meghan will be graduating from Pepperdine this year.
Living in a community like Malibu, it’s easy to lose perspective of how blessed we all are. Perhaps Terry’s outlook on life should serve as an inspiration and a guiding light to those who encounter hardship, and as a reminder to appreciate all of our blessings while we have them.