Promoted to Glory: Willard S. Evans
Commissioner Willard S. Evans was Promoted to Glory on July 11, 2024, at the age of 99.
Willard S. Evans was born on September 2, 1924, in New York City to Lt. Colonel Willard and Faith Evans as a fourth generation Salvationist. He would grow to become a well-known and highly respected Salvation Army Leader during his lifetime.
He graduated from high school in New Orleans and completed a year of university before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps where he served for two and a half years during World War II. Upon discharge, he enrolled in Bob Jones University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion and met his future wife, Marie Fitton, whom he married in 1947.
Commissioned as Salvation Army officers in 1949 in Atlanta, Lieutenant and Mrs. Evans were appointed to the command of the Goldsboro, NC, Corps where their two children, Sherry and Willard, were born. Additional Corps appointments followed in Wilson, NC, where then Captain Evans was named Man of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce, Raleigh, NC, and St. Petersburg, FL.
After fourteen years as a corps officer, which the future Commissioner often confessed was his first love, Captain Evans was launched on a career of administrative positions which would take him to three of the four United States territories and to the highest levels of Salvation Army leadership.
Appointments as divisional youth secretary in Maryland and Northern West Virginia Division and divisional secretary in the National Capital Division, preceded his becoming the Southern territorial youth secretary. His transfer to the Western Territory as training principal came in 1971. Additional appointments in the West included Southwest divisional commander, territorial program secretary and territorial personnel secretary.
In 1982, the then Colonel Evans was named chief secretary of the Eastern Territory in New York City, and two years later he returned to the Western Territory as the territorial commander with the rank of commissioner.
During more than thirty years of retirement in Clearwater, FL, Commissioner Evans remained active in the League of Mercy, Men’s Club, Seven Men of Prayer, and other corps activities. Because Commissioner Evans was a veteran of World War II, he volunteered for six years at the local VA Hospital.
Commissioner Evans is survived by his loving wife of 77 years; two children, Sheridan Marie Day of Sun City, AZ, and Willard R. (Pamela) Evans of Hendersonville, NC; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; six nieces and nephews; and a host of friends and fellow Salvationists who thank God for the ministry and influence of a true soldier of the Cross.
A committal service will be held Friday, July 19, at 3:30 pm at the Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Petersburg, FL, and a service of remembrance will follow on Saturday, July 20, at 10:30 am at the Clearwater Corps.