Katie Jean Adams

Katie Jean McCown Adams was born on October 30th, 1992 in Bedford, Texas.  She peacefully entered the Kingdom of God on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 surrounded in love with her husband, parents and sister at her side.  Katie was a beautiful soul that spread joy and love wherever she went.  Her enthusiasm for life made even the simplest of things exciting.  One of the biggest joys in her life was bringing the love of music to children.

Katie was raised in Hurst, Texas.  Her musical journey began in fourth grade at Hurst Hills Elementary when she enrolled in the Suzuki Strings program to learn violin.  It was then she decided she wanted to be a Suzuki Strings teacher and she never wavered from her goal.

She attended Central Junior High and L. D. Bell High School where she was in the HEB School District’s first orchestra. At Bell, she was the first orchestra student president. She was also a member of the Raiderettes drill team and performed on both violin and viola in the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra.  Katie graduated from Bell in 2011.

 Katie graduated from Sam Houston State University in December 2015 with a Bachelors degree in Music Education. While there she performed in the Sam Houston State University Orchestra, was a student instructor with the Huntsville Youth Orchestra, and gave private lessons to many children.  Katie loved being at Sam and made many good friends there. While at Sam Houston she continued to volunteer with the HEB Suzuki program, returning to town to assist with their major events.

In 2016 she realized her dream when she accepted a position with HEB ISD as the Suzuki Strings instructor at Lakewood Elementary School. There she taught violin, viola, and cello to students in Kindergarten through Sixth Grade. She loved her students immensely. During this time, she also served on the board of the North Texas Suzuki Association.

Katie married the love of her life, Raymond Garrett Adams, on June 9, 2017. Garrett also attended Hurst Hills and LD Bell. He obtained a Music Education degree from TCU and is a band Director in the FW School District. They had Katie’s dream Disney themed wedding, which she labeled as “The Best Day Ever”.  Of course, their honeymoon was spent at Disney World. She and Garrett loved traveling to Disney and had many fun filled trips during their short time together.

Katie grew up attending the First Baptist Church of Hurst where she learned of the love of Jesus. As a child she participated in many of the church’s children’s musicals. She was excited to have recently begun teaching a first grade Sunday School class.

To Katie family was very important.  She loved her family with all her heart and really enjoyed the large family gatherings with all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as spending one on one time with them. She was especially close to her sister, Maegan, with whom she shared many adventures. In addition to family, she had many other interests, including everything Disney, reading, dance, travel, and amusement parks.

Katie grew up in an amusement park loving family.  She was a member of American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) and enjoyed riding new coasters to add to her coaster count.  However, her most loved theme park was Disney.  Her love for everything Disney was known by all.

 Katie had a huge heart.  She loved fiercely, lived life to the fullest, and spread a little “pixie dust” wherever she went.  The Sam Houston State University Moto is “The Measure of a Life Is It’s Service.” By that measure, her life was huge.

 She was preceded in death by her Grammie and Grandad, Doris and Charles McDaniel and her Grandfather, Frank McCown.

She is survived by her husband, Garrett Adams; her parents, Davis and Lu McCown; her sister, Maegan Susie McCown; and her Grandmother, Billie Joyce Seifert McCown. She is also survived by numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

We were blessed to have had Katie in our lives for the past 28 years. Many wonderful people, including family, teachers, church members, and friends helped her to become the wonderful adult we all loved. Her family is thankful to all of you for being a part of her life.  

A public memorial service is being planned for late spring or early summer when we can safely gather. We are pursuing the possibility of creating a music related scholarship fund in her name. The opportunity for donations will be announced at a later date.