Stephan Adams McDavid

Stephan Adams McDavid, 34, passed away peacefully Sunday, November 17, 2024, at his home in Georgetown, Texas.

A memorial service and visitation will be held at St. Peters Episcopal Church in Oxford, Mississippi on Monday, November 25, 2024, at 11:00 A.M., with visitation preceding at 9:30 AM. There will be a private family burial at a later date.

Adams was born in Jackson, MS, and raised in Oxford, MS, where as a boy he enjoyed riding his bicycle around the Square and mildly terrorizing his babysitters. Even then, the two dueling aspects of personality shone through—while he was known as a silly prankster who could never give a “normal” smile in a photo but always had to pull some funny face—he also received the superlative “Most Kind and Tender Hearted” at Bramlett Elementary in the second grade.

Adams was only five when he first attended Camp Bratton Green, a place that would become transformative for him. After several summers as a camper, Adams was invited to be a counselor at Special Session at age thirteen, a year younger than was typical. He continued as a counselor there all through his years at Oxford High School, where he starred his senior year in “The Nerd” and frequently rocked the house playing bass guitar in the greatly-under-appreciated band, “Unhinged” (If you know, you know).

Adams would continue to work at Camp Bratton Green during their Special Sessions for physical and mentally challenged adults in the “wheelchair cabin.” This experience is where Adams’s great gift for bringing light to dark places came into its power. With humor and imagination, he served others in such a way that such service appeared easy. During these camp sessions, Adams and the other camp staffers developed deep bonds as they assisted these handicapped men, many of whom live all year for their five days at camp, the only time in which they experienced physical freedom and emotional joy. These staffers would work to provide the handicapped campers the normal camp experiences of swimming, horseback riding, canoeing, ziplining, etc.—though it also meant these staffers would be tasked with feeding and bathing these campers and changing their diapers. Adams undertook these tasks with a humble humor that put all at ease. Because of his physical stature—wide-shouldered and strong—Adams was indispensable when, for example, a paraplegic man needed to be lifted into a canoe or lowered onto a soapy water slide. He was also indispensable because he made even the unpleasant tasks seem a bit of a lark.

The relationships Adams formed in his years at Camp Bratton Green would sustain him for the rest of his life. The “Cabin B Boys”—the staffers, including his brother, Henry, with whom he labored and bonded—would go on to form a group that would text each other every single day for the next twenty years. And Adams’s relationship with the campers, too, didn’t die out with summer’s crickets and long nights but continued year round, the rest of his life.

Adams had a lot to be proud of, but one of his proudest accomplishments, after years in which his fun-loving nature got the best of him, was deciding to get clean and sober. He chose every day to stay clean and sober for the final eight years of his life. But finding this strength in himself wasn’t enough. He also wanted others to find their strength. That’s why he dedicated his life to helping strangers along this path. He lived and worked at sober living houses, and when he realized that the ones he knew were lacking, he co-founded, with his close friend Robert McCaslin, Sunlight Sober Living in Austin. In addition, he worked as a recovery coach and director with Hyperion Recovery: any wisdom he’d gleaned, he was passionate to pass along.

Although Adams was dedicated to sobriety and dedicated to the welfare of others, he never became earnest or preachy, never gave up his goofy voices, his love of practical jokes and fun. He loved life deeply. He love New Orleans, especially blues-funk music. He loved New Orleans’ Saints, big time. He loved good food, especially Frankie and Johnny’s shrimp po-boys, and his mama’s pumpkin bread. He loved hosting poker nights for his recovery friends. He loved his two spoiled dogs, Little Sister and Margo, who would trot around Austin in their Saints Jerseys, and now will trot around Oxford, MS, in the same. He loved being a godparent to two of his friends’ children.

And he loved showing up for his friends. Dozens of people in recent days have named Adams as their best friend, a number almost mathematically impossible.

Adams’ friends and family will miss his easy physical affection. Even as a middle-schooler, when most boys pretend not to know their parents, Adams would leap out of his desk to hug his mother when she visited his class. “Hey Sweet Mama,” he’d text his mother almost every day of his life. “Hey Papa Bear,” he’d text his dad. His friends, perhaps unconsciously, would gravitate in his direction on a bad day, hoping to intersect his orbit. Receiving an all-healing bear hug from Adams McDavid could turn your whole day around.

Those famous hugs, and everything else about that “Most Kind and Tender Hearted” prankster, will be deeply missed by all who were lucky enough to know him.

Adams was preceded in death by his grandparents, John Land and Sylvia McDavid of Jackson, Mississippi, and his beloved “Mama Tree,” Teresa Adams of New Orleans, Louisiana. Adams is survived by his parents Rosie and Steve McDavid, and his brother Henry McDavid, of Oxford, Mississippi. Adams is also survived by his maternal grandfather, Jesse Adams, of New Orleans, Louisiana, and his maternal grandmother, Rosemary Adams, of Water Valley, Mississippi, as well as many loving aunts, uncles and cousins. He is also survived by his goddaughter Emma Benveneutti, of Pass Christian, and godson, Murray Ford, of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Memorials to honor Adams may be made to Camp Bratton Green, Special Session Scholarship Fund at Graycenter.org or by mail to 1530 Way Road, Canton, Mississippi, 39046.