Maxilla Evans

Waynesville, NC-Maxilla Everett Evans died on December 25, 2007, in Asheville, NC. She was born on April 13, 1917, on a farm in Palmyra, NC, the daughter of Benjamin Bryan Everett and Sallie Baker Everett. She attended NC Woman's College in Greensboro but transferred to NC State, where there were only a handful of female students, to pursue her love of botany. She graduated in 1940 with a degree in Landscape Architecture. Her marriage to the late J. Claude Evans that same summer lasted 67 years. She was preceded in death by 2 brothers and 2 sisters, and is survived by her 4 children - Sara (Chuck Dayton), Claude Jr. (Jill Evans Petzall), Robert (Lisa Sedaris Evans), and John, two grandchildren-Craig Evans Boyte and Jae Lee Ramirez -- and many nieces and nephews. Maxilla's life was characterized by a passion for the natural world. Born into a generation in which few women were encouraged to pursue science, she taught herself ornithology and botany. While shouldering the responsibilities of a Methodist minister's wife in South Carolina she became an avid bird-watcher and gardener. When Maxilla moved to Dallas, Texas, where Claude served as chaplain to Southern Methodist University (1957-1982) she became an active environmentalist, making pilgrimages to view bird migrations and throwing herself into campaigns to save unique environments such as East Texas' Big Thicket. In the mid-1970s she and Claude built a retirement home in Waynesville, NC, moving there full-time in 1982. It was here that her love of birds and native plants found their fullest expression. In the 1980s she raised prize-winning canaries as well as Gouldian finches, mandarin ducks, cockatiels, and even a peacock. At the same time, she amassed a unique collection of rare native Appalachian wildflowers and shrubs. She was the driving energy and vision behind the creation of the Corneille Bryan Native Garden at Lake Junaluska. Under her direction the garden became a showcase of native Appalachian wildflowers and shrubs with more than 500 different species. In 2005 she received the Thomas Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence from the Annual Cullowhee Conference on Native Plants in the Landscape Family and friends all knew Maxilla as a person with infectious good humor, insatiable curiosity, boundless enthusiasm, and generosity of spirit. Her final years have shown us how to live with purpose and joy despite diminished circumstances. She will be terribly missed, but her spirit is here in the people she inspired and the plants she nourished. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday December 29, 2007 at the Memorial Chapel at Lake Junaluska. Visitation will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Corneille Bryan Native Garden c/o the Lake Junaluska Foundation, P.O. Box 67, Lake Junaluska, NC 28745.

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