Carol Adams was a voice for justice whether protesting against racism in the ’60s and ’70s or embarking on a new career on the forefront of affirmative action after her children were grown.

“She was always focused on making a better world for people either one-on-one or working with a group or community. I think she really felt that every voice was important and that everyone makes a difference,” said her son, John D. Adams, of Nobleboro.

Carol is featured in the 2015 edition of “Remember Me,” a publication by the Maine Health Care Association that features the stories of pioneering, innovative and interesting residents of Maine’s long-term care facilities. Carol now lives at Riverside at Chase Point Assisted Living in Damariscotta, a facility for people with Alzheimer’s or related memory loss conditions.

Wanda Wilcox, Executive Director of Chase Point, said all of the residents of Riverside had interesting lives. Understanding those lives helps staff connect with them on a deeper level and offer better care.

“When my dad had Alzheimer’s and lived at Riverside, I was so grateful that everybody knew he was a farmer. Because they knew his past, they could let him be on the farm every day, even if it was only in his mind. That’s why projects like “Remember Me” are so important,” said Wilcox.

Carol grew up in the Unitarian Universalist Church and was committed to their ideals of social justice, said her son.

“I think she grew up from a fairly early age putting faith into action,” said John, who is now President of his own Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

As a minister’s wife and mother, her role was largely a supporting one in the ’50s and ’60s, but that never prevented Carol from writing letters to her congressmen against the war in Vietnam or protesting and marching for women’s rights and civil rights.

When the family lived in New York State, where her husband, Eugene Adams, served as minister in a church in Jamestown, Carol and Eugene and their two sons participated in a march at about the time Martin Luther King was shot.

Toward the end of the route, it became clear that there was the possibility of violence, but Carrol left the march only reluctantly and then only to protect the children. Several times she was arrested during a protest and once spent the night in jail when she was in her late 50s or early 60s.

While passionate, she also respectful of all viewpoints and felt it was important that everyone be heard.

Her ability to work with diverse communities helped drive her success when she began a new career working for affirmative action in state and local government in her 50’s.

In 1978, Carol applied for the then-new position of Affirmative Action Officer for the City of Medford, Massachusetts, a largely blue collar city of about 60,000 near Boston where Eugene was then minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

In that role, she was responsible for designing and implementing an affirmative action program for city employees, public and private housing and contract compliance. Within about two years, she was awarded the Martin Luther King citation by the Medford branch of the NAACP and received a special commendation from the Medford City Council.

Frustrated with the obstacles she faced in Medford, she moved to a similar position in next-door Arlington and from there to state government, eventually becoming the Assistant Supervisor with the Office of Equal Employment Practices for Massachusetts.

John said that his mother loved her career because it gave her a chance to put her principles into action, opening up new opportunities for people who had been largely shut out of the middle class.

Throughout her life, whether it was writing letters to congressmen as a housewife or working as a government administrator to create a more level playing field in housing and employment, Carol Adams approached the challenge of making the world a better place with joy and optimism, always “striving for the good,” said John.