Unlike some who have lived well beyond retirement age, Florence Evans, 96, only has to take one medication per night, a heart pill, to stay healthy, as she seems to still exude a vitality for life and an enjoyment in talking about her deep roots in Lenoir City.
Evans said she stays active by making laps around her townhouse daily and keeps her mind sharp by playing bridge at least four times a week and by reading multiple newspapers cover to cover.
A member of Trinity United Methodist Church her entire life, Evans does not miss church on any Sunday unless she’s sick. She enjoys playing the piano, gardening and filling the birdfeeders each morning.
She is also devoted to clean living and only has a fuzzy navel when going out for a special occasion, she said.
“Several years ago, we wanted to put her in a nursing home,” Rick Marker, one of her grandsons who talks to Evans on a weekly basis, said. “She told us if we did that, she would cut us off so quickly. We wouldn’t know what hit us.”
Evans father was the vice president of Peoples Bank in Lenoir City during the 1930s and 1940s, while her mother worked as the owner of several stores in downtown Lenoir City.
When Evans and her husband, Fletcher, married, they moved to Alabama for one year and then moved to Chattanooga for two years. Fletcher worked for Tennessee Valley Authority as a senior hydro shift engineer for 31 years on projects including the Fort Loudoun Dam. As a hobby, Fletcher also enjoyed raising calves on their farm.
Evans worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a clerk and typist before being assigned to the record keeping department. She helped each of the secretaries set up a filing system so their assigned director could access information, noting that all employees were required to sign confidentiality agreements.
At the end of World War II, Evans and her friend decided to go back to Roane State Community College and major in art before she left her position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Evans said she was good at blending colors, but had to learn how to draw during her art training. Evans later became president of the American Association of Arts in Knoxville, which she said helped her and her friend put on art shows.
Evans and her friend decided that they wanted to paint a picture of the original Lenoir City High School in watercolors to give as a gift from their graduating class, a work that continues to hang at LCHS.
She initially created oil paintings and said one of her most memorable paintings was a 7-by-15 foot work she created for a steakhouse in Gatlinburg. After completing this assignment, she started selling more paintings.
Even country music star Loretta Lynn commissioned Evans to paint her childhood log home in Butcher Hollow, Ky., which is said to still be hanging in Lynn’s home.
Evans credits her long life to good genes. Out of her six brothers and sisters, she also has a 90-year-old sister living in Kingston and an 82-year-old brother living in Ohio.
“One of the best things I’ve ever done is be a good church member,” Evans, as she looked back over her life, said.
“I’ve done everything that I can do,” she said, laughing.
