Remembering Adam: In the Final Week of School, Las Lomas High Classmates Pay Tribute to Their Slain Friend

Adam Williams and his Las Lomas High cross country teammates would begin one of their favorite training runs in the Shell Ridge Open Space at a fork in a trail, not far from a large oak tree.

Their route would take them down into a gully, then up and around into a narrow valley filled this time of year with mustard flowers. 

I jogged this route two days after Adam's birthday, when he would have turned 17, and the morning after some 50 of the slain teen's classmates took a break from studying for finals. These students gathered on Tuesday afternoon in the open space to install and dedicate a bench in his honor, in the shade of the oak tree.

As I was making my way through the valley on the other side of Fossil Hill, I thought about what his friends, still grieving, said at the bench dedication. Although Adam was killed nearly a year ago, on July 17, 2009, his friends said they sometimes think they see him--somewhere downtown or running along these open space trails he so much loved. They can't believe he's gone.

"When I run, I always think of him," senior Brandon Ishida told me, his eyes brimming with tears. "I always remember him being two steps in front of me and me trying to beat him."

It wasn't hard to imagine such a sighting as I was jogging the Fossil Hill trail. Adam would be running this trail, especially this summer when he would be preparing for cross country season in the fall. Adam would be a lean, 6-foot-3 figure, with dark blond curly hair, running at a pace that would be difficult to catch. 

Always determined to run better and faster, Adam had achieved a personal goal in the months before his death: running less than a six-minute mile. He had clocked in a time of 5 minutes and 30 seconds, said his good friend and frequent running partner, Emily Martin, a senior who is graduating Friday. "When he started cross country, I was faster than him, but then he got be faster than me," she said. 

But as much as Adam pushed himself, he was always generous and encouraging to his teammates and friends. "He was always cheering for me," said Ashley Nomura, who joined cross country at Adam's suggestion.

Tuesday's dedication, on a bright, sunny afternoon, began with students, teachers, Las Lomas Principal Pat Lickiss and Adam's father, stepmother, and brother walking past Indian Valley Elementary out to the oak tree. The bench was waiting for them, sitting in the back of a City of Walnut Creek pickup.

Over the past school year, Las Lomas cross country coach Andrew Schreiber, who also had Adam in one of his Japanese classes, collected donations from students--$5 here; $10 there—to buy the bench. The students also held bake sales, and senior Nick Coon sold some of his paintings to raise money for the bench, even though he didn't know Adam well. 

Students in Pat Blank's woodshop class assembled the plastic-and-wood composite bench from a kit, and architecture teacher, Robert Poehnert, made and engraved the plaque, which is headed with the words "In Loving Memory." 

Lickiss contacted the city, whose Open Space division helped Schreiber find the place to install it, in a spot overlooking the oaks and hills of Shell Ridge Open Space.

Schreiber said Adam and his teammates usually rested in this tree's shade after training or running races. The tree is near the start of the home course for the Las Lomas junior varsity and varsity cross country teams.

"What happened to Adam is hard for adults to even understand, but if you're a kid, that's even harder," Schreiber said. "I've come to the conclusion that we can never understand what happened. The only thing I can do is honor him, and I'm trying to make sure the kids take the best of what he stood for."

Installing the bench began with students lifting it from the back of the truck, bearing with evident care this symbol of their lost friend.

The students then cleared the brush from the spot where they would place the bench. Emily Martin, who had gone to junior prom with Adam, mixed concrete in a wheel barrow that would be poured to hold the bench in place.

As the students worked, the breeze rustled the branches of the tree and a live instrumental version Coldplay's "Viva La Vida"--provided by a trio of students playing violin and guitars--played in the background.

As much as the students tried to focus on their happy memories of Adam, the devastating circumstances of his death were on the minds of some.

Just after dusk on Friday, July 17, 2009 Adam's mother, Judith, coaxed him into going on a drive with her up Mount Diablo, according to an account later pieced together by Contra Costa County sheriff's and coroner's investigators and his family.

It was a warm, clear evening, a good night for a drive. Adam was 16 and had just finished his sophomore year at Las Lomas. What Adam did not know is that his mother, outwardly happy and successful, had already had his dog and three cats euthanized and had written a letter explaining why the two of them must die. She left for the drive armed with a .357 revolver.

At a picnic area near the top of the mountain, they parked the car and mother and son got out, presumably to look at the view. As Adam walked around the car, Judith Williams opened fire. She shot Adam first in the chest. After Adam fell to his knees, she put the gun to his head and fired again. Then she turned the gun on herself.

Jim Williams, who divorced Adam's mother when Adam was young, said he was getting to know his son in a new way after moving from St. Louis to Northern California in 2007. Adam would spend every other weekend in Sacramento with Jim Williams, his wife, Susan Fanetti, and his half-brother, Stefan. Jim and Adam Williams were planning a weekend trip together to Los Angeles.

"In some ways, I learned a lot more about him after he died, through things his friends told me," Jim Williams said. "I learned how giving he was, how nice he was."

Jim Williams said he was so touched by how many kids drove up to Sacramento for Adam's memorial service--more than 300.  "There was a caravan of cars. It was standing-room only."

Since that service, Jim Williams and his family have been looking for a more lasting way to honor Adam. When Schreiber approached him with the idea of installing a bench in a place Adam loved, Jim Williams knew he had his answer. 

Once the students finished installing the bench, they formed a circle around it. Jim Williams took a seat. He paused before he spoke. "This is obviously very hard," he said.  "I want to thank so many people."

Schreiber joined him and talked about the young man he knew, noting that the quote engraved on the plaque fit Adam "to a T": "Try your hardest and you will never disappoint yourself." 

Emily Martin added: "He put his whole heart into whatever he did." She and other students took turns, one by one, sitting with Schreiber on the bench, sharing their thoughts about Adam.

Sophomore James Glover admitted that he didn't know Adam well, just through being on the cross-country team with him. Glover was a year younger than Adam, and said he always looked up to him. Sitting on the bench, his voice rose as he told the crowd: "I hope we never forget this kid. I can't think of anything else to say but good bye. You will be missed." 

Before the dedication, Brandon Ishida told me how he had been visiting family in England when Adam was killed, and he couldn't make it back to California to attend the memorial service He said he has had a hard time dealing with the fact that he was so far away when Adam died. 

"I didn't expect any of this to ever happen," he said, referring to his friend's sudden death. "I feel so thankful that we're here today, that we have the tree and this bench. It's an opportunity to get closure."