George Evans

George Harmon Evans, age 85, died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, December 14, 2017, at his home in Allen, Texas. He was born on March 31, 1932, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to George and Catherine (Price) Evans, and was their only child. The family lived in Kingston, and eventually moved to Scranton, where he graduated from high school in 1949, a proud member of the National Honor Society. His plans were to study architecture, but after tests showed his gifts aligned more with engineering, he pursued and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in architectural engineering from Penn State University, the first five-year program of its kind there. Graduating in 1954, he served in the Air Force for two years, then began his career as a professional engineer and architect. Designing many hospitals, banks, college and office buildings, and becoming a partner in an architecture and engineering firm, he is noted for many projects. Among them are the largest satellite dish antenna in the world (Puerto Rico), a hangar for the C5A – at the time the largest cargo plane used by the U.S. Military (Dover, Delaware), and project manager for the Statue of Liberty restoration. He was active in the Rotary Club in Clark’s Summit, Pennsylvania, where he lived and eventually retired. He was a well-respected member of the professional community, sought after for project work well into his seventies. Known for his strong faith, George served in the lay ministry of the church he attended for over 50 years in congregations throughout the United States. He was hired for several years by the church in his professional capacity during the 60s and early 70s to design and supervise construction of sites with convention centers to house 15,000 members each, in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Wisconsin and Texas. He served on the Board of Regents for Ambassador University, the Interim Board of Directors for the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and in several other posts through the years. George was preceded in death by their son, Gregory. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, celebrating 60 years of marriage in August, their children, Robert, John, Nancy (Ed) Budda, Valerie (Dennis) Gelbaum, and David (Marguerite), nine grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. George was well-respected and loved by those he dealt with professionally and socially, and will always be remembered for his humor, his love of music (especially jazz), completing New York Times crossword puzzles in ink, playing horse shoes, enjoying cream sherry, his attention to detail, his incredible experiences (which he was delighted to share), and his desire to serve, to learn and to teach. Following cremation, his remains will be buried in the family plot in Northampton Memorial Shrine, Easton, Pennsylvania. Memorial services will be held in Dallas, Texas, and Pennsylvania and are currently in the planning stages. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to COGWA at www.cogwa.org/donate.