J.D. Evans portrait unveiled at library
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on September 28, 2016 11:14 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/BRANDON DAVIS
Shirley Evans, right, unveils a portrait of her late husband, J.D. Evans, during a ceremony Sept. 20 in the J.D. Evans Community Room at Steele Memorial Library. Assisting her is Lynn Williams, left, who chaired the committee that worked with Evans to have the new library built.
MOUNT OLIVE -- Putting a face with a name is not the usual expression.
But the J.D. Evans Community Room received a face when a portrait of the late Evans was unveiled at Steele Memorial Library Tuesday, Sept. 20.
"A room needs a portrait, a face to go with a name, to understand the person behind the room," said Lynn Williams, public relations manager for the Mt. Olive Pickle Co., and who worked with Evans on the fundraiser board for the construction of the library.
Family members, longtime friends and Wayne County Board of Commissioners joined Evans' wife, Shirley Evans, and his two sons, Dexter J. Evans and Jansen D. Evans, to watch the veil be lifted, revealing a portrait of the late District 2 Wayne County commissioner.
Mrs. Evans and her two sons, along with Evans' family members, slowly pulled the veil off, and the crowd remembered the face of a man who loved students and the community of southern Wayne County.
Evans served as a commissioner for 15 years until his death in 2012.
But one of his proudest achievements came the same year.
He desired for a new library to be present in downtown Mount Olive for years, but in 2008, the project took off, and the former Belk Department Store at 119 W. Main St., transformed into the now Steele Memorial.
It was only appropriate two years after his death to dedicate a room at the library in his honor.
Donna Phillips, Wayne County Public Library director, spoke about Evans' love for Dudley, where he lived, and Mount Olive, and said, "the community is strengthened by a public library," adding that the portrait will hang outside the community room.
Mrs. Williams, county Commissioners Chairman Joe Daughtery, Hilda Cromartie on behalf of her husband, Commissioner Ed Cromartie, and Mayor Ray McDonald Sr. shared memories and told stories of Evans before Mrs. Evans stood before the crowd.
She made people in the room laugh when she said the library is unveiling her husband's portrait on top of her 80th birthday.
Mrs. Evans then introduced former students of Evans when he taught at Carver High School and when he was an assistant principal at Southern Wayne High School before becoming a commissioner in 1995.
She spoke of her husband's motivational speeches along with former Wayne County Commissioner Jimmie Ford at schools. She read two letters from fifth-grade students who thanked Evans for his words of love and encouragement.
But she stopped talking about her husband for a moment and thanked local artists Zeno Spence for painting the portrait.
Mrs. Evans said she doesn't like portraits and asked the library to just hang a big picture of her husband on the wall. But she eventually saw Spence's work and agreed on hanging a portrait on the wall.
"He is one of the nicest men I've ever met," she said.
She walked over to the portrait, and cameras flashed as she pulled off the veil.
"I have mixed emotions because so many people worked on this project," Mrs. Evans said. "And J.D.'s not one to say, 'This is what I did.' It's overwhelming that the committee and the people wanted this person to be here first of all for this room to be named for him. Because he always said, 'If I can help one more student and help one more person.'
"So with this in mind, he will be helping young people (and) old people," she said.