Adamson is not always comfortable talking about her wealth. Growing up she didn't have much money as her father worked as a nuclear scientist. She even qualified for a grant for her first years in college. After she inherited enough money to retire for the rest of her life, she never touched it, living like the other police officers she knew — in an apartment, and working a part-time job.

Bailess said she had no idea Adamson was affluent until she saw a sports car she owned years after they'd become friends. Then when she got married in the late '70s, Adamson and her now ex-husband began spending some of that money.

The biggest clue to her economic status came when she donated Humvees to the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and to the Utah Division of Forestry, which fights wildfires. Her generosity revealed that she wasn't just another working woman.

In fact, when she was interviewing for the job of Justice Court Judge in 1997, she was asked why she wanted to work as a judge when she didn't need to work at all.

"What makes my life any less valuable than anyone else's?" she asked the panel who interviewed her. "My parents were very service-oriented, and I've always been service-oriented. Most people don't know the person inside of me. . . . I've always worked. I need a reason to get up in the morning, too."

Adamson has used that reason to better the lives of those around her.

When she was in college in the early '70s she studied nursing in hopes of joining an Army M.A.S.H. unit or serving on a Navy hospital ship. But the war ended before she graduated, and she changed her mind about how to serve her country.

"When the war ended, I decided to enlist in the Marine reserves," she said. Always pro-military, Adamson said she was drawn to the elite nature of the Marine Corps and loved the challenge of being one of just 2,400 women in the demanding but prestigious organization.

"This is a great country," she said. "People don't realize how much our military provides them with all the freedoms they expect and frankly demand."

She loves her military service for the same reason she loves sitting on the bench in a black robe.

"I see it as an opportunity to make a difference in someone's life," she said, the passion creeping into her soft-spoken demeanor. "My opinion of the justice courts may be different from some. When people come into my court, I immediately put them at ease. Most of those who come before me have never been to court before. They're just decent hard-working people. Then you have the flip side and you deal with those accordingly. . . . I design my sentences so that they can actually accomplish them, unless they consciously choose not to."

When anyone questions why a person of her social and economic stature should opt for a year of active duty, seven months overseas in the very dangerous, desolate deserts of Iraq, she answers without hesitation.

"I have to go," she said matter-of-factly. "I didn't join the Marine Corps so I could have a cushy job. If anything, people in my position probably should serve more than the working-class individual, because they get to enjoy the freedoms and luxuries this country affords us more than those who can't afford them."

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com