Colleen "Tina" Adair, 72, died December 30, 2025 in Teton Health Care of Cascadia, a skilled nursing home in Idaho Falls, Idaho, with her brother Richard and sister-in-law Pamela at her side.  Her death followed a long hospitalization for illness associated with aging.  At the time of her death she had been living at The Homestead, an assisted living facility in Rexburg, Idaho.

Colleen was born in San Mateo, California, while her parents, Bert and Maxine Strong Adair were living nearby in Redwood City, California.  She joined her older brother Richard Bert in a very happy home.  A younger brother, Mark Timothy "Timmy" Adair, joined the family two years later. Beloved Timmy lived to be just a year-and-a-half old, succumbing to a severe heart defect.  Her father, Bert, was a carpenter and self-taught photographer.  Maxine and Bert bought a photography business and moved to Santa Clara, California.  Maxine visited nearby hospitals where nurses had taken photographs of newborn babies, and would collect the film.  After a full day of hanging sheetrock, Bert would develop the film and print the baby pictures overnight in his homemade darkroom in their garage.  Maxine would return to the hospitals the next day and give the parents the opportunity to buy the photographs.

Colleen grew up in the lovely community of Santa Clara, California, attending elementary and secondary schools there.  Music lessons for Colleen began at an early age, beginning with piano lessons in the home of a very elderly pianist, Mrs. Nichols.  Colleen flourished on the piano, and throughout her life could sit down and play Bert's favorite piece, "By the Sea," a lovely collection of arpeggios that brought the rolling waves of the sea close to us.  At Santa Clara High School, Colleen became an accomplished musician, first playing the violin, then, with the encouragement of Mr. Garton, her orchestra teacher and personal hero, moving to the string bass.  The bass would become a most cherished instrument.

After high school Colleen entered Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.  There, too, music was her first love and companion.  She played in the college orchestra and was further instructed in the string bass by a Professor Brown.  She went on to study and play in the orchestra at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she finished just one course short of her Bachelor's Degree.  Colleen was blessed to spend several years of her life in London, studying and working.  Those years in a tiny flat were treasured years.  Later in life she returned to Europe with Bert and Maxine to visit cities and battlegrounds of Bert's World War II memories.

Colleen spent a number of years living with Bert and Maxine in their home in Bend, Oregon.  She loved her Bend friends, and fit in well in what was then a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains.  In later life she changed her name for new acquaintances to Tristan.  She lived in Salt Lake City and North Salt Lake, working for a time for the Utah Jazz, and playing string bass in community and college orchestras.    She became interested in the harp and enrolled in "The Chalice of Repose" in Missoula, Montana.  There she learned to play the harp, especially to comfort the dying.  She chose to pursue the profession of music thanatologist, visiting the homes and facilities of the elderly who were under the care of hospice.  She loved her work bringing peace and comfort to the dying.  Harps became her fascination, and in time she built harps with her close friend, Kelly Anderson, and acquired many more of them.  In her last years family and friends would ask her to play the harp for them, and often they found themselves falling asleep as she played, something she knew would happen.  On occasion she would play for the dying in her final home at The Homestead.  She was truly a gifted musician.

Pets were always part of Colleen's life.  Petruccio the goat was her buddy in Santa Clara, and Maxine's nemesis.  Colleen could walk up to him anywhere in the yard and he would come bounding to her.  On the other hand, he would charge Maxine with his head down and she would shriek with fear.  He was as big as a large deer.  If Colleen or a visitor were not afraid, as he came close you could grab one of his horns and hold him away without difficulty.  The charge was more his way of playing, but Maxine never did trust him.  "Duck Duck" was also her friend.  She loved horses and begged Mom and Dad to take her riding.  In later years her Schnauzers were her beloved friends.  Mozart, Sebastian, Scottie and Bennie were her companions.  She is happy with those furry friends once again.

Time at the ocean began when Colleen was young.  Bert rented a beach house at Aptos, California for the month of December.  Who would go to the beach in December?  Her family did.  They loved their time walking on the beach and sitting on the balcony watching storms blow in, with Beethoven's 5th playing on the tiny, portable, 200-pound stereo Bert would haul up the outside stairs to the living room.  Thus began Colleen's love affair with the ocean.  When living in Bend, and later in Salt Lake City, Maxine and Colleen would take trips to the coast often.  Their favorite spot on the Oregon coast was Lincoln City.  We have a treasured photograph of her and Mozart on a blanket at the beach.

Colleen (now Tristan) spent her last years in a lovely, home-like assisted living center, The Homestead in Rexburg, Idaho.  The staff and caregivers became her trusted friends.  The family thanks The Homestead, the hospital staff at EIRMC, and the staff at Teton Health Care of Cascadia for their kind and loving treatment of Colleen.

Colleen is survived by her brother, Richard and his wife Pamela, by five nephews and a niece and their spouses, by twenty-eight grand-nephews and nieces, and by one great grand-niece.  She was preceded in death by her parents and her dear brother, Timmy.

A brief graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, January 5, 2026 at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 1342 E 500 S, Salt Lake City, UT  84102.

Service will be broadcast at: https://my.gather.app/remember/colleen-adair