Joan Gwendolyn Evans

Joan Evans: a life story summary Quick to act, she always helped. Whatever the job, her hands were in it. From bank teller, as a young mother with kids in school, to full time partner in the family sporting goods business which she helped survive and grow across three cities in Orange County, Joan Evans worked. She was a working mother who rarely missed a beat in the motherhood part. After 25 years of long days in competitive business, Gail and Joan sold their stores and came north to a different life. As Gail retired into farming a couple hundred acres, she mothered her last daughter through the last years of high school and made many new friends in Scott Valley. She did not quite share Gail's lust for the land, so in time, she took a part-time job in town. The pay didn't matter, she missed the work and the interaction. She would have gained even more new friendships in the valley had she been less busy hosting visitors from down south. In time, five couples from Orange County bought land and moved to Scott Valley, renewing former friendships. Early on, in Garden Grove on Sundays, Joan dropped Lynn and Mark at the Friends church on Gilbert-for Sunday School. Years later a wonderful local preacher walking our neighborhood in patent leather shoes and a leisure suit eventually led Joan and Gail to the Lord. Over the next decade or so, the three kids also chose to submit their lives to Jesus. Since Christians in Scott Valley were amazingly similar to Christians in Garden Grove, Joan and Gail found a welcoming home in the Berean congregation, in Etna. Joan had skills and she had fun. She typed, and tapped the keys on adding machines, at a blazing pace. Related, yet much better: on piano, she could play any song she'd heard, by ear, with full chords and both hands-yet she never had a piano or took a lesson. More important, she kept Gail leaning forward, and organized enough to accomplish more than the two of them ever had imagined. At home, we feasted on her ice cream, albacore sandwiches, and more albacore. No one could make dove taste as good as she could. When school got out, she and Aunt Orilla hosted a summer-long get together of friends and cousins under the eucalyptus trees and in the surf at Seal Beach. She loved going places. She would drive anyone anywhere. For her, driving was a joy-especially when she was behind the wheel. In fact, a short drive to the movie theater for a new release and a lap full of buttered popcorn may have been her favorite trip. She was life. Laughing and smiling, she made her kids happy. When hardship hit her, they barely knew It. She wanted a little, and she needed less. She gave most of herself to us. She could laugh at herself, so people wanted to be with her all the more. Her generosity and hospitality were powerful, and allowed us to see love and friendship-and what they can do. In Quartz Valley, her home was still the place. We gathered there regularly, in her big, back yard-or inside-if necessary. She had a large role in helping to raise her local grandchildren. And those who lived away were especially appreciated by their limitless grandma. During her latter 20 years, a new generation-of great grandchildren-knew her as GiGi, and that, then, is what we all called her. In her final years, largely house-bound and weakening, love for and from her husband Gail underwent a new blossoming. She had to be still and let him be the attentive caretaker. And that he was. It was not an easy time, but It was beautiful.__________________________________________________________________________________Joan Gwendolyn Evans, 94, of Quartz Valley, passed away on 27 August at her home. She was born on 13 February 1928, in La Habra, California. Her father, Jennings Clarence Collins, was a young oilfield worker in Oklahoma when he moved to Riverton, Wyoming where he met and married Joan's mother, Mary Jack in the early 1900s. In time, they left Wyoming for Southern California with their first daughter, Twila Jeanne. Clarence worked for Bethlehem Steel and Mary packed oranges and played piano in local theaters (when movies were silent and needed a sound track). Years later, Joan and her twin brother Jack were born. Each weighing less than 3 pounds, they slept in their mother's top dresser drawer. Raised in La Habra and Seal Beach, Joan graduated from Wilson High School in Long Beach. She pumped gasoline at Terminal Island's naval yard the year after WW2. In time, a new job at Dow Chemical enabled her to buy a TV for her mom and dad, one of the first in Seal Beach. In time, her family moved into the house next door to Gail's, on Ocean Avenue. There, the two met on a Tuesday night when the Collins's invited neighbors over to watch Milton Berle's new tv show. They married the next year and soon had three kids.Joan is survived by her husband of 71 years, Gail Leonard Evans, of Quartz Valley; three children-Mark Evans and wife Joanne (Quartz Valley), Lynn Fain and husband Steve (Ashland, Oregon), and Judy Baughman and husband David (Danville, California); grandchildren-Jacob Evans and wife Emily (Snohomish, Washington), Joey Evans (Ashland), Sarah Evans (Quartz Valley, California), Jenny Josephson and husband Ben (Fort Langley, BC), Will Fain (Ashland, Oregon), Nick Baughman (Monroe, Washington), Woody Fain and wife Lizzie (Ashland, Oregon), and Clara Fain (Talent, Oregon); and 13, beautiful, great grandchildren. Joan is preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Clarence Collins: her sister, Twila Jeanne Dickson; brother, Jack Collins; and nephew, Rick Dickson. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday 24 September at the Berean Church in Etna. Girdner Funeral Chapel is assisting the family, and online condolences may be made at girdnerfuneralchapel.com.

Joan Gwendolyn Evans

February 13, 1928 - August 27, 2022