Longtime IVCC instructor dies
By Jeff Ossola
IV Leader Staff, Nov 9, 2006
Myrna Evans, former professor of philosophy and
speech at Illinois Valley Community College, died on Oct. 26 in her home in
Oglesby at the age of 92.
Evans led a full life, with a variety of occupations and
hobbies punctuated by an irrepressible lust for life. She once said of her
personal philosophy, “Can’t is not in my vocabulary” and “You don’t just live,
you participate in living.”
Evans graduated in 1936 from Illinois State with a degree in
English and social studies. She went on to teach third grade in Ottawa before
leaving to be married in 1937; school teachers were expected to be single.
From that point, Evans worked as the head field inspector for
the Department of Labor, division of women and children’s employment, as an
office manager and accountant for an auto distributor, a credit manager for a
Montgomery Ward store, as a law clerk and as a legal secretary.
She was also the executive secretary for the Ottawa chapter
of the Red Cross. Evans also owned and operated Grove Stables of Ottawa for nine
years, a boarding stable for horses. In 1959, Evans received the first
certificate of advanced studies in public address from Northern Illinois
University and began working at L-P-O junior college and L-P high school,
teaching speech at the college and English at the high school.
She also coached drama and the debate program. In 1966 when
L-P-O became IVCC, Evans was one of the first faculty members to be called upon
to teach at Sheridan Correctional Center. She said, “As with all new
undertakings there was a certain amount of anxiety. When I walked into my first
class at Sheridan, the guard shut the door behind me. I heard him turn the key,
and I knew that was it.”
She continued her academic studies at DePaul University and
the University of Tennessee. In 1971 she was awarded the doctorates from
Laurence University. In 1973, Evans was inducted into the 8th edition of the
“Who’s Who of American Women.”
In addition to her academic studies, Evans was fluent in
Gaelic and had a passion for fast cars and motorcycles. In 1978 she purchased a
small motorcycle saying it is an “extension of my freedom,” after having sold
her Jaguar. Of the Jaguar she said, “I liked it because it maneuvered well. I
never knew how fast it went; every time I was out on the road and noticed that
nobody had passed me for some time, I’d notice a cop in my rear-view mirror.”
Evans retired from IVCC in 1979 after 20 years, saying that
she had had decided one year while filing her income tax. “I decided that if I
didn’t have the salary, I wouldn’t have to pay the tax.” She went on to say,
“Retirement will find me turning a corner, moving in a new direction.”
Instructor Rose Marie Lynch said of Evans, “Myrna was a real
presence. Being around her was a constant adventure because she didn’t do
anything half way, whether it was teaching, appearing on stage, caring for a
mixed collection of animals, or socializing with friends.”
Evans, who taught thanatology (study of the phenomena of
death), once said of her class, “Without the shadow of a doubt, a person can
face death after he finishes this course.”
Evans is preceded in death by her husband Orville.