07/11/2010
Miles Jordan Evans, 94,an old US Navy sailor returned to port on July 11, 2010 at
Knoxville Hospital in Knoxville. Jordan was born on October 18, 1915 in Knoxville,
Iowa to Arlington Jordan and Jessie (Merritt) Evans.
He graduated from Knoxville
High School in 1933. That summer he worked at Bob Eaton’s east side drugstore and
lifeguarded at Ashworth Pool. It was there later that he met a lovely swimmer, Frances
Ellen Howard, the daughter of a prominent Des Moines attorney.
They married on September
7, 1940. In 1934 he joined the US Navy, where he served four years in the Pacific
Fleet with tours to China and the Far East. He was stationed in the South Pacific
and saw duty both on ship and in island hospitals.
As a commensurate story teller
he often retold his own version of “Tales of the South Pacific”. On the USS Goldstar
he was in charge of turning gold jewelry into stars and performing ear piercings
for sailors crossing the equator.
After discharge from the Navy in 1938, as a pharmacist’s
mate 2nd class, he returned to Pharmacy school at the University of Iowa and then
had a mortuary apprenticeship from 1941 to 1942.
He reenlisted in the Navy with
the advent of WWII and served once again in the Pacific and completed service in
1945. Jordan returned to Iowa after the war and went on to St. Louis where he graduated
from Mortuary School in 1946. He joined the family firm, Evans Funeral Home and
Ambulance Service, along with his father and brother. He was a licensed mortician,
and an ambulance driver.
He also helped run their Evans Decorating store, laying
linoleum and selling wallpaper and paint in Knoxville. He had an exemplary career
in his home town serving on many boards and committees, as well as being elected
multiple times as the last non-medical county coroner.
He was a lifetime member
of the American Legion and VFW. He was the recipient of the Community Service Award
and was a member of the local Masonic Lodge and also a Shriner. He was a past president
of the Knoxville Rotary Club and responsible for making the sauce for the yearly
chicken barbeque. After marriage he was a faithful member of the First Presbyterian
Church of Knoxville, singing in the choir for many years.
In retirement years Jordan
and Frances moved to Laurie, MO on Lake of the Ozarks where they attended the Ozark
Chapel Methodist Church and enjoyed many terrific friends and neighbors. They returned
to Knoxville and lived together in assisted living and nursing center until her
death in 2003. He then moved back to his own home and lived independently until
having a much delayed knee replacement.
On his last day on this earth he got up
and walked, straight up and down, the way he wanted to be, with his head held high.
He always put other people first and even when in pain or disability took the time
to be concerned about those around him. He was known as a truly good man.
He was
preceded in death by his parents, his wife on September 7, 2003, a brother Jack
Maxwell Evans, and a sister Elizabeth Williams (100). He is survived by a daughter,
Joy Patterson of Honolulu HI, and two sons Mark Jordan Evans (Melissa Salas) of
Las Vegas NV, and John Scott Evans (Janet) of Knoxville, and many wonderful grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
Funeral Services will be held at 4:30 P.M., Friday, July 16th, at the Winfield-Evans-McCleery Funeral Home, with Rev.
Robert DeYoung officiating. Burial with military rites will be held at 11:00 A.M.,
Saturday, July 17th, at the Pleasantville Cemetery in Pleasantville.