Police Chief Dan Adams has roots in Orange that go on for generations, and now more are taking hold.
On Thursday, July 7, he planted a cherry blossom tree in Plaza Park, replacing an old Chinese Magnolia that memorialized his great-grandmother.
In 1974, as a 5-year-old, Adams helped his father and grandfather plant the magnolia in the park at the center of the traffic circle in Orange’s Old Towne to commemorate his great-grandmother, Marah Adams, and her work at the Santa Ana Register as a reporter from the 1920s to 1960s.
But that tree was damaged in May when an alleged drunk driver crashed into it during an early morning pursuit by police from another city, said Orange police Sgt. Phil McMullin.
“We wanted to continue the legacy for the chief, his father and now his sons,” McMullin said of the arrangements made plant a new tree, “and also send a statement to drunk drivers that they might take out a tree, but we are going to continue to arrest drunk drivers, enforce those laws and rebuild.”
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Members of Adams family, including Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, back center, and Orange Mayor Mark Murphy, left, pose for a photo after Adams and his father, John Adams, right, planted a new tree on the Orange Plaza in Orange on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Nearly 50 years ago, Dan Adams, helped his father and grandfather plant a Magnolia tree in the Orange Circle to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams. Earlier this year, the tree was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Pictured in a clipping from The Register nearly 50 years ago, now Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, center, along with his father and grandfather plant a tree on the Orange Plaza in Orange to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams, a writer for The Register from the 1920’s until her retirement in 1964. On Thursday, July 7, 2022, nearly 50 years later, Dan Adams, is helped by his father, John Adams, 87, to plant a new tree on the Orange Plaza after the tree he helped plant as a child was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, right, along with his father, John Adams, shovel dirt as they plant a new tree on the Orange Plaza in Orange as family members, friends, city employees, and members of the Orange Police Department, gather around, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Nearly 50 years ago, Dan Adams, helped his father and grandfather plant a Magnolia tree in the Orange Circle to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams. Earlier this year, the tree was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange Mayor Mark Murphy presented Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams a set of wooden coasters made from the tree that Adams helped his father and grandfather plant nearly 50 years ago on the Orange Plaza in Orange, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Earlier this year, the tree was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle. The original tree was planted to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange Mayor Mark Murphy, left, prepares to present Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, right, a set of wooden coasters made from the tree that Adams helped his father and grandfather plant nearly 50 years ago on the Orange Plaza in Orange, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Earlier this year, the tree was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle. The original tree was planted to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, right, speaks just prior to planting a tree on the Orange Plaza in Orange, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Nearly 50 years ago, Adams helped his father and grandfather plant a tree to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams, which which was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle earlier this year. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, left, with his father, John Adams as he holds a framed clipping from The Register from nearly 50 years ago on the Orange Plaza in Orange on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The clipping shows Adams with his father and grandfather as they plant a tree to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams, a writer for The Register from the 1920’s until her retirement in 1964. Nearly 50 years later, Dan Adams and his father, John Adams, 87, planted a new tree on the Orange Plaza after the tree he helped plant as a child was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle ealier this year. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Orange Police Department Chief Dan Adams, right, along with his father, John Adams, shovel dirt as they plant a new tree on the Orange Plaza in Orange as family members, friends, city employees, and members of the Orange Police Department, gather around, on Thursday, July 7, 2022. Nearly 50 years ago, Dan Adams, helped his father and grandfather plant a Magnolia tree in the Orange Circle to memorialize Dan’s great-grandmother, Marah Adams. Earlier this year, the tree was hit and knocked down during a police pursuit through the Orange Circle. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Erin Walstead, Adams’ aunt, described Marah Adams as a “wonderful lady,” reminiscing on her work as a writer penning a regular gardening column, “Through the Gardening Gate.”
Walstead, who often helped clean Marah Adams’ house, said she remembers the columnist writing in her room with “two fingers typing away on a Royal typewriter.”
Walstead said Adams spent much of her time in the little park and surrounding plaza.
Dozens of community members attended the tree planting, including officers from the Orange Police Department who were off for the day, McMullin said.
“It just shows how much he means to the community and to our department,” McMullin said of Adams, who rose to chief a year ago. He’s been with the department for more than 30 years. Adams, a native of the city, is a graduate of Orange High.
The city plans to revise the surrounding traffic infrastructure to help avoid future damage to the traffic circle’s park, Adams said, adding that in the past, light poles and benches have also been damaged by car accidents.
Along with using the yellow traffic delineators already in place the city will use sign boards and chains encircling the plaza to prevent future accidents, McMullin said.
But McMullin also said the “most important” thing Orange police officers will focus on is “getting drunk drivers off the streets” by encouraging education, promoting rideshare apps such as Uber and Lyft, and enforcing DUI checkpoints.
“We want to do everything we can to minimize this ever happening again,” Adams added.
Adams was also joined Thursday by Mayor Mark Murphy, who presented Adams with a set of wooden coasters made from the old magnolia tree.
“I think it is symbolic of the resiliency of the city,” Murphy said, noting the quickness of City Manager Rob Houston and Adams to work on replanting the tree.
Murphy said he was proud to see the “lineage of history” present in Orange with the police chief and his family. Park Plaza, where the tree is located, is a “historic landmark” that will “continue to be restored,” he added.
“For me to go from a 5-year-old kid who was planting a tree and now I’m the police chief,” Adams said, “it’s pretty cool for me and for my family.”
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