Obituary for David Beecher Evans

David Evans was born in 1928 in Peru, Illinois, the oldest of four sons of Wilford and Maude Evans. At North High School he was an honor student and won state competitions in both debate and track. David won a scholarship to Harvard College in Cambridge, MA, and graduated with a B.A. in history. He was then drafted into the U.S. Army, and worked his way up through the ranks and was accepted into Officer Candidate School at Ft. Riley, Kansas. He graduated second in his class as a second lieutenant. Assigned to the Transportation Corps, David worked at several bases until being sent to Korea, where he served for 16 months. While there he transferred to the infantry, and served as a first lieutenant as a company commander, and later as a battalion intelligence officer. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his organizational work. Returning to the United States, David returned to the Transportation Corps as commander of a company of DUKWs (amphibious landing craft) in Virginia Beach, Virginia After six years, David left the service and attended Chicago Theological Seminary, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity summa cum laude. Thereafter he spent one year in advanced studies in Bonn, Germany. Then he enrolled in doctoral studies at Harvard Divinity School. Over a 7 year period, while continuing his studies, he worked two years at Dumbarton Oaks in the Studies in Byzantine Culture program in Washington, D.C. as a teaching fellow, and taught on the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary four years. He was also part time faculty at St. Vladimir''s Seminary (a Russian Orthodox seminary in West- Chester Co., New York). In 1966 he was awarded the ThD. Degree with Distinction from Harvard for his work in Patristics, the study of the early church fathers in the 3rd and 4th centuries. David then served on the faculty at St. John''s University in Queens (Fresh Meadows), N.Y.), in the Department of Theology for 26 years He also studied as a research candidate at the New York Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan, and taught courses in that field as well. It is interesting to note that doctoral work at Harvard required him to master five languages: Greek, Latin, German, French and Coptic. He later mastered Italian while living there. In retirement, David divided his time between Tuscany Italy and New York. He continued to do research and write in his field, and even participated in an Etruscan archeological dig. He moved to Grinnell in 2008. Over the years, David''s interests have been wide-ranging. He loves classical music, especially opera. He is a connoisseur of fine wine and gourmet dining. He loves history of all kinds, especially American history and the Civil War, and Italian, Roman and Etruscan archeology and history. He mastered the works of Freud in their original German, and developed interest in Japanese pottery while in Korea. He loves cartography, maps and compasses. And as an avid reader, among others, he has been devoted to the novels of John LeCarre.