David Duane Adamson — known to everyone as Duane — passed away peacefully in his sleep on June 10, 2026, at age 94. Now he is with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whom he loved and served. He was a well-loved pastor, teacher, mentor, husband and father.

Born in Denver, Colorado, the second of seven children, Duane moved with his family to Sunnyvale, California, in 1944. At Fremont Union High School he was student body president and a multi-sport athlete—and there he met Mary Lou Rutt, the woman he would marry and share his life's work with for decades. Even before he believed in Jesus Christ as Savior, he knew that God wanted him in the ministry. His path toward ministry began, unexpectedly, in a high school detention hall, where he found himself listing what truly mattered in life. On Easter Day 1950, reading Romans 10:9, he came to faith in Jesus Christ.  This decision resulted in a dramatic and lasting change in the focus of his life.

He studied philosophy at San Jose State, earned his B.A. in Bible from Cascade College, and completed his education at Western Evangelical Seminary and later Gateway Seminary. Along the way, he and Mary Lou married in 1953 and began raising a family — daughters Michal Ann, Deborah Lee, and Rebekah Lyn — even as Duane moved through a series of early pastorates in Oregon and California.

For nearly a decade he served as a hospital and juvenile-hall chaplain in Santa Cruz, work that also led him to serve as the president of the local suicide prevention service. He was also Director of Rehabilitation Services at Goodwill Industries — a season that revealed his deep pastoral instinct for meeting people in crisis. From there he entered a long and wide-ranging pastoral career: Senior Pastor at Willow Glen Alliance Church, where he helped establish two new congregations–one Chinese, the other Vietnamese–and earned an M.Div from Golden gate Seminary; a season teaching theology at Simpson College while pastoring in San Francisco; pastoring in Santa Cruz; six years as District Superintendent overseeing churches across Northern California, Utah, Nevada, and Hawaii; pastorating at Chinese churches in San Francisco and Oakland. Duane retired in 2011, settling in Pacifica with Mary Lou and serving as an elder at Linda Mar Bible Church. After a stroke in 2015, he moved in with his daughter Rebekah and son-in-law David, where he spent his final years.

He is survived by h

is daughters, Michal Simenson (Dave), Deborah Valenta (Chris), and Rebekah Gross (David), 7 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren, his brother Mike Adamson and sister Linda Kelly as well as many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by Mary Lou, his wife of over sixty years. He is remembered by generations of congregants and students he taught and shepherded across more than five decades of ministry. 

The most important message that he would want you to hear is this: “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9.  We thank God for working through Duane Adamson to help so many people have a real, saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you wish, you may make a donation in Duane's memory to the Simpson University Student Scholarship Fund.