Entrepreneur, Underwriter
(October 8, 2009) - Rodney Spencer Evans Sr., 62, the older son of Margaret and Morton Evans, was born on Sept. 8, 1947, in Baltimore and was reared in the longtime family home in the 1100 block of North Carey Street. His birthday was always a special time of festivity in the Evans family. He shared the date with his elder sister, the late Mrs. Dolorez Evans Foote. It was her annual custom to come from Philadelphia with her husband, Bobby, and two children to share the day with her brother and family.
Prior to his recent retirement, Mr. Evans was the proud owner of Monumental Liquors for 31 years. A frugal and highly competent businessman, he looked forward every morning to tending his store and trading witticisms and colorful repartee with his many loyal customers. He was also president at one time of the Monument Street Merchants Association.
Prior to opening his own business in November 1977, with the assistance of a Small Business Administration loan and the generosity of the late Charles Alpert, his devoted friend, Mr. Evans had been an industrious and hardworking underwriter at Aetna Life and Casualty Company. He sometimes gave talks on the insurance industry at academic institutions such as the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. In his store, he employed, on occasion, several of his nephews, Michael Cruz, Raphael Cruz Sr., and Robert Foote, upon whom he relied. Also, in his young adulthood, he had been an active member of the Prince Hall Masonic Order under the late Grandmaster Samuel T. Daniels.
Mr. Evans was born before the Civil Rights Movement and was influenced by historical events of the late ‘50s that preceded the social activism of the ‘60s. He lived a calm life as he attended Baltimore public schools and was encouraged by many excellent teachers there and by the longtime teachers in his maternal family. Some of Mr. Evans’s childhood experiences and pictorial memories were recorded in his brother’s poetry book, Song of My Soul.
Mr. Evans attended William M. Alexander Elementary School, No. 112, Booker T. Washington Junior High School, No. 130 and Frederick Douglass High School, No. 450, from which he was graduated in 1965 in the College Preparatory Curriculum. He matriculated at the-then Morgan State College in September 1965 and majored in history while participating with his brother in the required Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). At Morgan, Dr. Ruthe T. Sheffey, one of his most memorable professors, so precisely answered a question put to her by Mr. Evans about the Parthenon that many decades later he would still recite the response when Dr. Sheffey was recalled.
In elementary school, Mr. Evans played the coronet in the school band/orchestra and prided himself on how skillfully he shined his instrument with the polish provided by his father, who throughout his life was a continuous tower of strength for his sons. Rodney Evans was a convivial person who enjoyed dressing sharply and being in the company of nattily dressed and good-time-loving junior high school, high school and college chums, especially Leroy Pralieu, James Bright, Larry Ward, and Spencer WalkeR. Still, Mr. Evans would indeed crack a book on occasion, introducing his brother to writers such as Malcolm Boyd Are You Running with Me, Jesus? and James Baldwin Blues for Mister Charlie.
Mr. Evans followed in the footsteps of his father by being a good provider to his wife, children and grandson, making sure the family lived well but with a strong spiritual foundation. This meant weekly church attendance, first at Bethel AME Church, where Mr. and Mrs. Evans were married and where Mr. Evans was a fifth-generation member. They later began regular attendance at Empowerment Temple AME Church.
The longtime Forest Park resident was married previously. He is survived by his beloved wife of 35 years, the former Patricia Knight; his mother, Mrs. Morton (Margaret Jalena) Evans; his daughter, Ms. Catherine Jalena Evans; his son, Rodney Spencer Evans Jr.; his grandson, Jovan Evans-Caesar; and his brother, Paul Fairfax Evans. Nieces and nephews also survive him: Mrs. Sheila Lomax, Robert P. Foote, Ms. Lisa Cruz, Raphael Cruz Sr. and Ms. Monica L. Cruz; and two brothers-in-law, Robert P. Foote Jr. and Donald Cruz.
His beloved father, Morton Evans; his cherished sisters, Mrs. Dolorez E. Foote and Mrs. Adrienne E. Cruz; his beloved nephew, Michael A. Cruz and an older cousin, James M. Lee, who was like a brother, predeceased him. He was the grandson of the late Richard and Melvina Evans and the late Charles and Jalena Fairfax.