My closest cousin, Guy Michael Evans, passed away on Friday night. You can read his obituary
here. A little history about why we were so close. My mom only had one sister, Carol. They were very close, maybe even closer after their mother died so early. We got together just about every holiday. My dad was number 8 of 10 and many of my cousins on the Hodgkinsons side had children that were older than I was. We saw the Hodgkinson cousins every June at the Hodgkinson reunion, but it was the Evans that we spent most of the holidays with. Guy was born on Christmas Eve, 1956, I was born in September 1957. Nine months apart, we became Cousin Buddies. Because Guy was born on Christmas Eve, and Carol was born on Christmas Day (get it?? Christmas Carol) we would frequently get together for Christmas.
This was one of those occasions. Grandpa Smith is holding me and Carol is holding Guy. My grandma is holding Guy's brother Gordy, I'm not sure what Clark is doing and Terri is on Ray's lap - Carol's husband. (My dad must be taking the picture)
Because Carol just had boys, she spoiled us - Bev's girls. I remember one Christmas Eve at the Evans, Barb and I received matching red silky pajamas with ruffles around the capri pant leg and neck. I thought those were the greatest things I had ever received. Shortly after dad and I were engaged we were invited to the Evans Christmas party at their house on Gregson. It was nice to show dad off to my close family.
The other cool thing about the Evans is they were a boat family. Remember Melvin J. Hodgkinson - yeah he wasn't a boat kind of a guy, but the Evans - they were the boat and camper family. We went on several trips with them. On one trip Guy and I were in the third seat of our station wagon. We started singing Little Tom Tinker. Here are the words
Little Tom Tinker, sat on a Clinker and he began to cry
Ma, Ma, Poor little innocent GUY!
I remember when I sang it I rang out with GUY pretty loud at the end. When Guy would sing it he would put SUSAN in for the word Guy. We sang that what seemed like the entire trip.
Here are Gordy and Guy on a trip to visit us in Denver. I can't believe I am the one holding Fred the dog. (Fred was a puppy of the Evan's dog). He preferred Barb over me any day!!! (Sorry about the short skirt - it was really a skort.) There were several things I loved about Guy. He would write the Evans Christmas Letter every year. Yes it was a little long - but I would read every page. It was like having a conversation with Guy. There were several times when Guy would call when he was in Los Angeles. He would always say - Hi CUZ. The last one was the day after Hannah was born. He was so excited because he was staying in a hotel in Arcadia. I was so sad to report that even though he was in California, minutes away from 336, I was in Utah at the time. He will be missed by his wonderful wife Lori, his four children his 8 grandchildren and me!! Oh What a Guy!!!
Thank you for sharing he sounded like a good man. I enjoyed the stories you shared and the pictures that were posted. It sounds like he is in a better place and not suffering any more.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Christmas party in the Evans basement just after our engagement. It was a meet-the-cousins-aunts-uncles-inlaws affair. I thought it was a sign that they live on "Gregson" Ave. The Cornwall home I grew up in, in Salt Lake that we left to move to California was on Gregson Ave. a couple miles west, down the road. The Evans were the recreational family. I recall visiting there and seeing Uncle Ray's "barn", shoe-horned onto their little property, it was bigger than the house and full of all kind of man toys.
ReplyDeleteGuy was a gentle man, always warm, pleasant and smiley. Sorry mom, for the passing of your "Cuz" .
What a lovely tribute.
ReplyDeleteDid you purposely pick the most darling photos of yourself? We always say the cute cornwall babies can thank dad's side, but no no. You've proved us wrong.