John Clinton Adamson

John Adamson passed way on December 8, 2022. He was 75. John was a complex, private person and perhaps the most well-read person on the planet. He read tons of books and constantly absorbed online content from every source and subject imaginable spanning the gamut from astrology to complex economics. He was a master of wagering theories – using all manor of information to develop the perfect system for successful betting.

While he was given binoculars to watch birds from his sweeping view of the park in Boise, he mostly watched the squirrels whom he fed regularly when he was doing his daily walks in the park. He liked cats as well, having one for a time when his sister gave him a kitten.  When he moved, he left the cat since his mother cared greatly for it, and never adopted another, but he researched and gave the best cat toys to all his friends and family that had cats.

John was born to James Howard Adamson and Betty Jean Bartuska Adamson in September of 1947 in Davenport Iowa, since the closest hospital was across the Mississippi River from his family home in Rock Island, Illinois. During his childhood the Adamson family moved to Highland Park IL, Catonsville MD twice, and Homewood IL. He attended Wabash College then enlisted in the Army and requested to service in Vietnam. While stateside he was good at his work so had to fight to be deployed. He also helped teach other solders to read while there. He eventually was sent to Saigon to work in the Judge Advocate General’s office. After he returned from Vietnam, he worked in Baltimore MD at National Can Company at night while taking classes to finish his BA, eventually starting law school. While he learned much about the law in his first year, he eventually determined a profession in law was not for him.

He ran a bookstore in the roughest part of Baltimore known as ‘The Block’ for several years, then decided to go out to Kentucky to help his father run a beverage truck body business. His father was not an easy man to work for. After several years John left to go to Las Vegas for the first of two stints there.  He worked his ‘system’ successfully betting on horses for a time. He then worked again in the truck body business in East Rutherford New Jersey until his father died.  He went back to Kentucky to help his mother sort out their affairs and then returned to Las Vegas for many years, working at off-track betting in casinos and in a company that managed the data for all casinos to close out betting, distributed winnings, and set up odds for the next day’s betting. He eventually decided he wanted to live in a different place and moved to Boise ID.

He is survived by a brother, James Adamson of Lombard IL, and a sister Betty Cooper of Kingston WA.