Lee H. Evans, 70, of 1516 37th St., Rock Island, died Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at Oak Glen Home, Coal Valley.
Mr. Evans was born April 14, 1928, in Rock Island, the son of Herman J. Evans and Elizabeth J. Saunders Evans. He married Joycelene Saylor Aug. 14, 1948, in Rock Island. She died Jan. 13, 1995.
Private memorial services will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Rock Island, with military rites conducted by VVA Post 229, QC. Visitation is 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Hodgson Funeral Home Ltd., Rock Island. Following the visitation will be a reception starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Rock Island VFW Hall, 3715 9th St., Rock Island.
It would have been easy for Lee H. Evans, who died Wednesday at Oak Glen Home in Coal Valley, to go around bragging that one of his sons, Lane Evans, held one of the most prestigious jobs in America, that of a United States congressman.
But that was not his style.
Instead, Mr. Evans never considered the congressman -- who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1982 and who has spent most of his adult life living in the public spotlight -- to be any more special than any of the four Evans boys (the others are Steve, Doyle and Dave). He was proud to note that all four of his sons were the apples of his eye.
To those who were privileged to have known the quiet and loving man, that comes as no surprise.
Mr. Evans, 70, was a lifelong Rock Island resident. The 1946 graduate of Rock Island High School was an outstanding member of the school's undefeated 1945 WHAM football team. The WHAM team (an acronym honoring Rocky's backfield of Don Whan, Howie Hankins, Miles Anderson and Mel Montz) went 9-0 in '45 and is still considered to be one of the finest high schools football teams in the state of Illinois.
Following high school, Mr. Evans went on to a distinguished Navy career before returning to Rock Island where he was a member of the Rock Island Fire Department from 2 Aug 1954 - 22 Jan 1975.
He was a member of Retired Firefighters Association of Rock Island and was a participant in Operations Crossroads, atomic tests conducted in 1946 in the South Pacific at Bikini Atoll.
Mr. Evans then served as a housing rehabilitation specialist for the city before owning and operating his own home improvement business, Evans Awning Company.
Steve Vetzner, spokesman for Rep. Evans, said, ''Lane Evans was very close to his father and thought he was a great man.''
That he was. In fact, anyone wanting a list of the attributes that make a good citizen could compile a very good one by studying the life of Mr. Evans: whether it was as a football player, a war hero, a city employee, a business owner or a family man, he shouldered a great amount of responsibility, and he succeeded in everything he did.
Survivors include sons (and spouses), Steve Evans, San Diego, Calif., Doyle Evans (Heike Ehlers), and Congressman Lane Evans, all of Rock Island, Dave (Ellen Dale) Evans, Wilmington, N.C.; and grandchildren, Joyce, Jennifer and Griffin, all of Rock Island. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and a sister, Marge Wynn, in 1958.
We join in offering our condolences to Rep. Evans, his brothers and their spouses and their children. Each can take solace in knowing that a city's worth as a place in which to live and raise children is determined largely by the number of citizens it has of the calibre of Lee Evans.
Mr. Evans was born April 14, 1928, in Rock Island, the son of Herman J. Evans and Elizabeth J. Saunders Evans. He married Joycelene Saylor Aug. 14, 1948, in Rock Island. She died Jan. 13, 1995.
Private memorial services will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Rock Island, with military rites conducted by VVA Post 229, QC. Visitation is 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Hodgson Funeral Home Ltd., Rock Island. Following the visitation will be a reception starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Rock Island VFW Hall, 3715 9th St., Rock Island.
It would have been easy for Lee H. Evans, who died Wednesday at Oak Glen Home in Coal Valley, to go around bragging that one of his sons, Lane Evans, held one of the most prestigious jobs in America, that of a United States congressman.
But that was not his style.
Instead, Mr. Evans never considered the congressman -- who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1982 and who has spent most of his adult life living in the public spotlight -- to be any more special than any of the four Evans boys (the others are Steve, Doyle and Dave). He was proud to note that all four of his sons were the apples of his eye.
To those who were privileged to have known the quiet and loving man, that comes as no surprise.
Mr. Evans, 70, was a lifelong Rock Island resident. The 1946 graduate of Rock Island High School was an outstanding member of the school's undefeated 1945 WHAM football team. The WHAM team (an acronym honoring Rocky's backfield of Don Whan, Howie Hankins, Miles Anderson and Mel Montz) went 9-0 in '45 and is still considered to be one of the finest high schools football teams in the state of Illinois.
Following high school, Mr. Evans went on to a distinguished Navy career before returning to Rock Island where he was a member of the Rock Island Fire Department from 2 Aug 1954 - 22 Jan 1975.
He was a member of Retired Firefighters Association of Rock Island and was a participant in Operations Crossroads, atomic tests conducted in 1946 in the South Pacific at Bikini Atoll.
Mr. Evans then served as a housing rehabilitation specialist for the city before owning and operating his own home improvement business, Evans Awning Company.
Steve Vetzner, spokesman for Rep. Evans, said, ''Lane Evans was very close to his father and thought he was a great man.''
That he was. In fact, anyone wanting a list of the attributes that make a good citizen could compile a very good one by studying the life of Mr. Evans: whether it was as a football player, a war hero, a city employee, a business owner or a family man, he shouldered a great amount of responsibility, and he succeeded in everything he did.
Survivors include sons (and spouses), Steve Evans, San Diego, Calif., Doyle Evans (Heike Ehlers), and Congressman Lane Evans, all of Rock Island, Dave (Ellen Dale) Evans, Wilmington, N.C.; and grandchildren, Joyce, Jennifer and Griffin, all of Rock Island. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and a sister, Marge Wynn, in 1958.
We join in offering our condolences to Rep. Evans, his brothers and their spouses and their children. Each can take solace in knowing that a city's worth as a place in which to live and raise children is determined largely by the number of citizens it has of the calibre of Lee Evans.
Lee H. Evans, 70, of 1516 37th St., Rock Island, died Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at Oak Glen Home, Coal Valley.
Mr. Evans was born April 14, 1928, in Rock Island, the son of Herman J. Evans and Elizabeth J. Saunders Evans. He married Joycelene Saylor Aug. 14, 1948, in Rock Island. She died Jan. 13, 1995.
Private memorial services will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Rock Island, with military rites conducted by VVA Post 229, QC. Visitation is 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Hodgson Funeral Home Ltd., Rock Island. Following the visitation will be a reception starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Rock Island VFW Hall, 3715 9th St., Rock Island.
It would have been easy for Lee H. Evans, who died Wednesday at Oak Glen Home in Coal Valley, to go around bragging that one of his sons, Lane Evans, held one of the most prestigious jobs in America, that of a United States congressman.
But that was not his style.
Instead, Mr. Evans never considered the congressman -- who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1982 and who has spent most of his adult life living in the public spotlight -- to be any more special than any of the four Evans boys (the others are Steve, Doyle and Dave). He was proud to note that all four of his sons were the apples of his eye.
To those who were privileged to have known the quiet and loving man, that comes as no surprise.
Mr. Evans, 70, was a lifelong Rock Island resident. The 1946 graduate of Rock Island High School was an outstanding member of the school's undefeated 1945 WHAM football team. The WHAM team (an acronym honoring Rocky's backfield of Don Whan, Howie Hankins, Miles Anderson and Mel Montz) went 9-0 in '45 and is still considered to be one of the finest high schools football teams in the state of Illinois.
Following high school, Mr. Evans went on to a distinguished Navy career before returning to Rock Island where he was a member of the Rock Island Fire Department from 2 Aug 1954 - 22 Jan 1975.
He was a member of Retired Firefighters Association of Rock Island and was a participant in Operations Crossroads, atomic tests conducted in 1946 in the South Pacific at Bikini Atoll.
Mr. Evans then served as a housing rehabilitation specialist for the city before owning and operating his own home improvement business, Evans Awning Company.
Steve Vetzner, spokesman for Rep. Evans, said, ''Lane Evans was very close to his father and thought he was a great man.''
That he was. In fact, anyone wanting a list of the attributes that make a good citizen could compile a very good one by studying the life of Mr. Evans: whether it was as a football player, a war hero, a city employee, a business owner or a family man, he shouldered a great amount of responsibility, and he succeeded in everything he did.
Survivors include sons (and spouses), Steve Evans, San Diego, Calif., Doyle Evans (Heike Ehlers), and Congressman Lane Evans, all of Rock Island, Dave (Ellen Dale) Evans, Wilmington, N.C.; and grandchildren, Joyce, Jennifer and Griffin, all of Rock Island. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and a sister, Marge Wynn, in 1958.
We join in offering our condolences to Rep. Evans, his brothers and their spouses and their children. Each can take solace in knowing that a city's worth as a place in which to live and raise children is determined largely by the number of citizens it has of the calibre of Lee Evans.
Mr. Evans was born April 14, 1928, in Rock Island, the son of Herman J. Evans and Elizabeth J. Saunders Evans. He married Joycelene Saylor Aug. 14, 1948, in Rock Island. She died Jan. 13, 1995.
Private memorial services will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Rock Island, with military rites conducted by VVA Post 229, QC. Visitation is 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Hodgson Funeral Home Ltd., Rock Island. Following the visitation will be a reception starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Rock Island VFW Hall, 3715 9th St., Rock Island.
It would have been easy for Lee H. Evans, who died Wednesday at Oak Glen Home in Coal Valley, to go around bragging that one of his sons, Lane Evans, held one of the most prestigious jobs in America, that of a United States congressman.
But that was not his style.
Instead, Mr. Evans never considered the congressman -- who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1982 and who has spent most of his adult life living in the public spotlight -- to be any more special than any of the four Evans boys (the others are Steve, Doyle and Dave). He was proud to note that all four of his sons were the apples of his eye.
To those who were privileged to have known the quiet and loving man, that comes as no surprise.
Mr. Evans, 70, was a lifelong Rock Island resident. The 1946 graduate of Rock Island High School was an outstanding member of the school's undefeated 1945 WHAM football team. The WHAM team (an acronym honoring Rocky's backfield of Don Whan, Howie Hankins, Miles Anderson and Mel Montz) went 9-0 in '45 and is still considered to be one of the finest high schools football teams in the state of Illinois.
Following high school, Mr. Evans went on to a distinguished Navy career before returning to Rock Island where he was a member of the Rock Island Fire Department from 2 Aug 1954 - 22 Jan 1975.
He was a member of Retired Firefighters Association of Rock Island and was a participant in Operations Crossroads, atomic tests conducted in 1946 in the South Pacific at Bikini Atoll.
Mr. Evans then served as a housing rehabilitation specialist for the city before owning and operating his own home improvement business, Evans Awning Company.
Steve Vetzner, spokesman for Rep. Evans, said, ''Lane Evans was very close to his father and thought he was a great man.''
That he was. In fact, anyone wanting a list of the attributes that make a good citizen could compile a very good one by studying the life of Mr. Evans: whether it was as a football player, a war hero, a city employee, a business owner or a family man, he shouldered a great amount of responsibility, and he succeeded in everything he did.
Survivors include sons (and spouses), Steve Evans, San Diego, Calif., Doyle Evans (Heike Ehlers), and Congressman Lane Evans, all of Rock Island, Dave (Ellen Dale) Evans, Wilmington, N.C.; and grandchildren, Joyce, Jennifer and Griffin, all of Rock Island. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and a sister, Marge Wynn, in 1958.
We join in offering our condolences to Rep. Evans, his brothers and their spouses and their children. Each can take solace in knowing that a city's worth as a place in which to live and raise children is determined largely by the number of citizens it has of the calibre of Lee Evans.
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