| Graduation Year | Class of 1990 |
| Date of Passing | Apr 18, 2008 |
| About | TWENTYNINE PALMS — If, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, the ultimate measure of a man is how he stands not in moments of comfort and convenience but in times of challenge and controversy, then Adam Joseph Crites stood as tall as the hulking professional wrestlers he loved watching. The 36-year-old president of Hi-Desert Memorial Healthcare District, which oversees Hi-Desert Medical Center, battled bone cancer and its debilitating effects for 21 years. He lost his battle with Ewings sarcoma on Friday, April 18, dying peacefully at his home in Twentynine Palms with his family at his side. He leaves a legacy of courage, strength and passion that those who knew and admired him won’t soon forget. “Adam was a very courageous man,” said Joe Ruddon, HDMC’s director of marketing and business development, who met Crites after he was elected to the hospital board in 2004. “He battled illness for many years, yet chose public service at a time in his life when others would likely choose to spend their remaining time pursuing personal interests, relaxing or seeing the world. “As one employee said to me, Adam was a man of visible strength. Through his leadership, he personified doing the right thing for the greater good of the healthcare district ... Adam has left an imprint on this organization that will remain,” Ruddon said. “He was the first (hospital board) director to welcome me. He made a special trip to the hospital,” said Eileen Berne, who met Crites when she was hired as director of the Hi-Desert Medical Center Foundation last September. Because he was such a passionate and eloquent speaker, Berne said, she often asked him to make presentations at events. “He was an inspiration,” she said. “We will miss him terribly.” Marti Avels, who worked at HDMC for 23 years and served as its interim CEO before retiring in 2004, met Crites when he called to tell her he was running for the hospital board and asked if they could get together to discuss the hospital and its needs, and what he could bring to the board, which was a patient’s perspective on healthcare. “I was impressed,” she recalled. “Other people (in his situation) would sit on a bench and whine. He took action.” Avels said she liked Crites’ ideas and admired his dedication to the hospital. “He was a fighter, not in terms of aggression, but a fighter in terms of conviction and passion,” she said. Crites’ mother, Ruth, said his election to the board was one of the greatest highlights of his life, second only to meeting and falling in love with Crystal, his life partner. Never one to do anything halfway, the young candidate called every civic organization in the Morongo Basin, asking to speak to the membership to tell them why he wanted to serve on the hospital board, his mother recalled. “He went all over the Basin,” she said. His diligence paid off — he won the third open seat on the board. “He took his candidacy and his board service seriously,” Ruth Crites said. In addition to serving on the hospital board, he also served on the Twentynine Palms Public Cemetery District board. He was appointed in 2003. Gaming fan gave back Joe, Ruth and Crystal Crites talked about Adam’s life on Monday, April 21 at the home he shared with Crystal and their dog, Pouncer. A wrestling fanatic, he often attended wrestling events with Crystal and his best friend, Jude Baker, whom Ruth Crites called “such a good pal to Adam.” The wall of Adam’s home office wall is lined with photos of himself with professional wrestlers, and hundreds of wrestling and “Star Wars” figurines cover every surface. Adam married his passion for wrestling and for gaming (he loved the fantasy card game, Highlander) with his passion for helping people, collecting cash and toy donations for City of Hope cancer patients year-round at such events as Raw Deal and Comic-Con held throughout Southern California, Crystal said. He’d undergone treatment at City of Hope for many years. He also donated items to Mara Cantelo’s Tender Loving Christmas program, his family said. Go-getter from the start Adam was born July 2, 1972, at Naval Hospital Twenytnine Palms aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. From a young age he was a go-getter. When he was 7, the young “Star Wars” fan asked for a model of the Millenium Falcon, the fictional spacecraft commanded by Han Solo in the movie. At $35 a pop, his dad wasn’t willing to buy the model outright. “I told Adam I’d help him earn money for it,” Joe Crites said, so father and son agreed to collect cans on the base in Oahu, Hawaii, where the elder Crites was stationed, until they had enough money. Every day for a week, the pair got up at 4 a.m. to search for cans. Joe Crites had figured it would be a while before they had enough money for the Falcon, but he got a shock at the recycling center — they’d hauled in $75 worth of cans. His son got his model. A bright child, Adam excelled in school, attending Kindergarten through third grade in Hawaii, then enrolling in schools here when the Marines sent Joe Crites back to Twentynine Palms, where he retired in 1985 as a sergeant major before taking a job with Morongo Unified School District. He’s now principal of Palm Vista Elementary School. Ruth Crites retired a few years ago after serving as principal at Condor Elementary. In seventh grade Adam joined the Cadet Corps at Twentynine Palms Junior High School. He would stay with the corps into adulthood, rising through its ranks to become cadet colonel at Twentynine Palms High School. He also served as commander of the 1st Cadet Brigade, which includes cadet units from both the Hi- and low deserts. “He was quite a hard-charger,” remembered retired Marine Col. David Warner, who ran MUSD’s cadet program for 22 years. Warner said Adam continued participating in cadet activities even while confined to home for two years after he was diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma in 1987 at age 15. “He was a leader. He didn’t let the fact that he was in a wheelchair slow him down,” Warner said of Adam, recalling that once, the teenager was chastised by his principal for speeding down a hallway in his chair. After graduating from TPHS in 1990, Adam was commissioned an officer in the California Cadet Corps and would attend events with Warner and other cadet leaders. “I was very proud of that young man,” Warner said. “He never gave up.” Adam wanted to follow his father into the military, and earned one of the top scores ever recorded locally on the ASVAB test, but he was rejected because of his cancer. He didn’t immediately take “no” for an answer, however, appealing his case to military higher-ups as well as senators. Ultimately, he accepted the military’s decision and turned to other pursuits. After graduating high school, Adam earned an associate’s degree from Copper Mountain College, then Copper Mountain Campus, in 1992. Despite being sidelined by illness several times — his cancer returned twice after his original diagnosis, requiring numerous surgeries, rounds of intense chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant among other things — he earned a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of California, Riverside, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1995, and a master of science in education from California State University, Fullerton, where he graduated with highest honors in 1999. He earned a teaching credential from Fullerton in 1996 and a special education teaching credential from the university in 1999. He continued his studies at CMC, where he served on the student government committee. Finding the love of his life Adam and Crystal met in July 2000, when her parents, David and Fran Lichtenegger, decided to take a road trip from their home in Oklahoma to Twentynine Palms. David Lichtenegger and Joe Crites were best friends in high school and hadn’t seen one another in 30 years. The Lichteneggers brought Crystal, who was attending college in Wisconsin at the time, with them. “I’d love to see them together,” Ruth Crites told the Lichteneggers after meeting Crystal, so Joe called Adam to invite him to breakfast the next day. Knowing Adam wasn’t likely to show without incentive, Joe offered his son $50. In addition to coming to breakfast, he agreed to show Crystal the area while their parents spent the day catching up. “I said, how’d you get Adam here?” Ruth recalled asking her husband. “I bribed him,” came the response. Adam was a gracious host, showing Crystal the community’s murals and taking her to Joshua Tree National Park. Three days later, he took her to the beach when she mentioned she’d never seen the ocean. Every hour they spent together that visit was filled with conversation, sparking a growing attraction, and the pair decided to keep in touch after the Lichteneggers returned home. Weeks later, Adam made clear his intentions, asking Crystal, “is it too soon to ask you to marry me?” Their engagement became official that Thanksgiving when Adam presented Crystal with Ruth’s mother’s ring. Crystal moved to Twentynine Palms in May 2002, where she joined Hi-Desert Physical Rehabilitation Group as a physical therapist; she now serves as the group’s director. Unable to marry legally because of Adam’s insurance needs, the pair held a commitment ceremony on Nov. 9, 2002, and never looked back. Despite his physical limitations, the pair remained active until the end of Adam’s life. She went to wrestling events with him, he went to renaissance fairs with her. One of the main goals of Adam’s life, Crystal said, was to “make his parents proud.” “He was so proud of his dad with the military and how they were both in cadets,” she said. “He really wanted to make them proud.” “He always made us proud,” Ruth answered. Adam Crites is survived by his parents, Joseph and Ruth Crites of Twentynine Palms; his life partner, Crystal Crites, also of Twentynine Palms; grandparents, Tom and Martha Crites of Sylvia, N.C., and Frances Barnes, all of Tyrone, Ga.; and various cousins, aunts and uncles. He will be remembered at a celebration of life scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, May 15 in the Helen Gray Education Center at Hi-Desert Medical Center, 6601 White Feather Road in Joshua Tree. The public is invited to attend and share stories about his life. |
