Former Yelm Mayor Adam Rivas
Photo credit: Mills & Mills Funeral Home

From the Mills & Mills Funeral Home website:
“Adam Roy Rivas passed away the morning of June 19th with his family at his side.”

“Adam served as the Mayor of Yelm from 2001 to 2005, leading the community during one of its largest and most prosperous periods of growth. In that time he accomplished a multitude of projects for which the city is still benefiting. Adam was passionate about improving the city’s infrastructure and many key projects that we enjoy today were completed under this great man’s watch.”

“A memorial and celebration of his life will be held for Adam at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, June the 29th at the Performing Arts Center in Yelm High School. A reception will be held immediately following in the adjacent commons.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation “In Memory of Adam Rivas” to the following either online or by mail at:
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
www.lls.org
PO Box 4072
Pittsfield, MA 01202

Or to:
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
www.fhcrc.org
PO Box 19024
Seattle, WA 98109

Or to:
Yelm Dollars for Scholars
360-458-6608
Read more

Editor’s Note:
I got to know Adam Rivas in my years leading up to running for Mayor of Yelm in 2005 while attending almost every City Council session. In 2005, there was a noticeable shift in the behavior of the Yelm City Council towards the public that occurred under Mayor Rivas’s watch, especially from then council members Mayor Pro-tem Ron Harding and Bob Isom. Rivas addressed the national media via the AP about the Council’s decision to forbid the public’s use of the words “Big-Box” and “Wal-Mart” in any public Council session, along with Council member Isom’s “moratorium on moratoriums” vote, which led to the ACLU and others calling this city’s behavior one of the most oppressive for small town governments at the time. This led to the city receiving the egregious 2006 Jefferson Muzzle Award.

Rivas called my wife and I into his mayor’s chambers late in the 2005 mayoral campaign, as he was not seeking re-election, rather Mayor Pro-tem Ron Harding would be running for mayor. Rivas indicated to us he was getting no support by what was then termed the “Yelm Cabal.” I will always honor and respect this man for giving us the “lay of the land” about the nuances of the Yelm political scene, counsel that is still pertinent to this day. He advised us on several issues regarding city hall and the personalities controlling and involved in the Yelm Cabal AND their agendas

After he left office and moved to Lacey (early 2006), my wife and I had the very good fortune to meet Adam again, as we were all traveling on the same plane to Newark in April, 2007. We had a long conversation on all that each of the three of us had learned about Yelm poli-tics. Rivas had clearly garnered much clarity about his time in office, describing his reflections to us of that experience, as we chatted in baggage claim, the last time we saw him.

However, when I met his son Dominic last year when he took the reigns as Yelm Cinema’s manager, I wrote Adam and Gail about what a fine young man they had raised, receiving a very poignant response from a man who had clearly gained alot of wisdom in his life, a man of character, IMHO!
I saved that letter, which I treasure to this day.

While I feel sadness today that Rivas succumbed at the young age 50, the legacy of Adam Rivas will continue in so many lives he touched here and his desire to make Yelm a better place for all.
Blessings to Adam on his next adventures and my heart goes out to his family…