Roger E Evans

Roger E. Evans passed away on Monday, January 8th, 2024 at 96 years old to start a new adventure in his heavenly existence. 

Roger was preceded in death by his parents Eph and Pansy, brother Carl, sister Betty, 1st wife Cleola, 2nd wife Ruth, son Randall, son-in-law Bob, grandsons Brad, Jeremy, and great grandson Etinosa.

Roger is survived by his six children Roy (Kathy), Sherree (Lance), Sheila (John), GeAnna (Steve), Mary (Brent), Troy (Donna), 32 Grandchildren, 87 Great Grandchildren, 32 Great, Great Grandchildren with 2 more on the way for a total legacy of 158 and counting. 

Funeral services will be held at the White Church (31 West Maple St.), Mapleton UT 84664 Saturday, January 13th, 2024 at 11:00 am with a viewing that same morning prior to the funeral from 9:00-10:30 am. We hope you’ll be able to come laugh and cry with us as we share our favorite stories and memories of such a wonderful man who we are missing more than we knew possible. For those unable to attend, please use the livestreaming link below to view the Funeral service.

Special thanks to the Family, First Choice Hospice team, and all other Healthcare workers that provided care to our Father/Grandfather Roger Evans during the last few years of his life. We can’t thank you enough.

 

To leave condolences, visit www.legacyfunerals.com

 

                                                                       

 

 

                                                                                        Life Sketch 

                                                                              By Roger through GeAnna

He always wondered what he’d be doing with his time when he reached the other side... Now he knows. But let’s start at the beginning of his life here on earth. – In his own words:” It was a warm and sunny day on August 22, 1927, when I was born. I was a little tired from my journey, so I rested for a while, then the next day I went out and started picking tomatoes! That started my life working on the farm.”

 His parents were Ephraim and Pansy Evans. He had one brother, Carl and two sisters, Betty and Marion. He grew up on the Orem bench near Carter Ville road. He lived across the street from his grandma and grandpa Evans and next door to his grandma and grandpa Carter, where he spent most of his growing up years. He loved them dearly. He loved talking about the happy adventures he had with some of his cousins and good friends. Not surprisingly he was a bit mischievous! 

His quick wit will be greatly missed along his many interesting stories that we were fortunate to hear him tell us over his lifetime. One of his favorites to tell us was about bathing in the galvanized tub when he was little. It was placed next to the old coal stove in the kitchen to help keep him warm. He told us how he stood up to get out once and burned his bum on the stove. 

He loved telling about riding in his Grandpa Carter’s wagon, especially when they went from Provo to Salt Lake, which back then took 2 days to get there, and when it was cold, they would cover up with a blanket and have a lantern at their feet to keep warm. Another story was about getting electricity for the first time. It was one bulb that hung down from a wire in the middle of the room. Another was getting running water in the house and not having to haul it in! He also talked about the monumental day when indoor plumbing was installed. So many Stories, not enough time to re-tell them all.

 He married Cleola Reynolds October 27, 1945, in Reno Nevada. They eloped. He was 18 and she was 17. He had to call home to get permission from his parents before the judge would marry them. They settled in Provo where he built their first house and later moved to Mapleton. They were married for 48 years. During those 48 years, they had 7 children. Roy, Sherree, Randall, Sheila, GeAnna, Mary and Troy. Those years were filled with hard work, but they always made time for camping, and hunting. Those years were not without many struggles but most important, many joyous memories were made. There was an important event that meant so much to mom, it was when he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was baptized by his oldest son Roy before Roy left on his mission in November of 1965. 

Well, In the mix with raising all those kids, many animals were raised also! Pigs, chickens, sheep, dogs, stray cats and best of all were some favorite animals, A horse named Patch, a milk cow named Daisy and a black lab named Alex. Roger was always a hard worker from the time he was a child working the farm, and had many jobs throughout his life. Some of the jobs he had were herding sheep with his Uncle Herald, driving a truck hauling various items like clay, gravel, and peaches. He hauled the Peaches from Provo to South Platt Nebraska. His first paying job was being a gas attendant. He started his career of laying floor coverings at DTR’s where he made lifelong friends. He continued in this profession for much of his life until he went to work for the phone company which was first known as Mountain Bell in 1972, where he would spend 18 years. He loved that job. He would always say, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. “The day he retired, he took his watch off and never wore one again.

 As time passed, our mom had more and more health problems and sadly she passed away from heart failure June 9, 1993. She was missed very, very much, but the Lord blessed Dad with a special lady that would come into his life shortly after mom passed. Her name was Ruth Suarez. They were married October 2, 1993. She had 6 grown children whom he welcomed into his family. Ruth and Dad took many trips to see the world. Ruth loved to travel. Some of those places were, Colombia where she was from, Egypt, Jerusalum, England and Spain. Sadly, after being happily married to Ruth for 22 years, Cancer took her away June 9, 2015. 

People are what have been important to him, not things, unless it’s his antiques from his past. Things from his childhood that he’s kept. Things that were his parents and Grandparents. Everything he’s kept, he could recall the memory that goes with it. 

He always enjoyed reading the newspaper, especially in his later years. First, he read the headlines, then he read the obituaries to see if any of his friends had died and last, he read the comics. The ones that seemed to fit his life, he’d hang on the fridge. His favorite comic strip was called the born loser. One particular comic he cut out and hung up seemed to resonate with him, went like this: A young man says to his uncle, “Uncle Ted, you don’t seem to have a lot of mementos.” Uncle Ted says “Lately I’ve been giving away many things I accumulated in my life... I came to the realization that when I leave this life, I will be in a hearse, not a moving van!” All of the comics he ever cut out and hung up had a life lesson for us to learn, and he wanted us to see the lighter side of life. 

Here’s a list of some of his hobbies and accomplishments. It’s just a few of the things he was proud of. He was a volunteer firefighter for 40 years. He grew a huge garden which he shared with many people. He loved being outdoors and keeping his yard beautiful. He loved his woodworking shop. Almost everything he made, he gave away. He’s best known for the hundreds of benches adorned with small hearts cut out on both sides. 

He lived and watched the world change in his 96 years of life, from horse and buggy to cars and planes. From no phones to having multiple phones in your house and even car phones! Then cell phones that hold more data than a whole library and the capability to see and talk to people on the other side of the world! He told us about the rooms full of computers at the phone company and now we have a computer that fits in our pocket. He marveled at all of it, but his fondest memories were of what he called “the good old days.” 

And now, one last comic from his fridge. It was a picture of a man in a coffin and next to him was a beautiful flower spray. The ribbon across the flower spray said, “You have arrived at your destination” For him, he said he wanted the words changed to read, “I have arrived at my final destination.” We will all miss his funny sense of humor. He always made us laugh. We will miss his kindness and love. His thoughtfulness for others will never be forgotten. Dad, you will be in our hearts forever. Your life will always be remembered by the smile on our faces when we tell others what a wonderful man you were and still are. Side note: Dad asked me to write this for him while he was alive. Most of the contents of this life sketch are things that he recalled and wanted added to it.