Nell Rook Blakney Evans

Nell Blakney Evans was born February 15, 1921 in Marshall, Texas. She was the daughter of William Lester (Bill) and Nell Rook Blakney. She graduated from McMurry College in 1941 in three years with a major in Spanish. At McMurry, she was active in Alpha Chi, Kappa Phi and Sigma Lamba Kappa. Ms. Elizabeth Wyatt was one of her favorite professors. Her first job upon graduation was teaching high school Spanish in Rotan, Texas. In later years, she was a Bi-lingual teacher for elementary students in Richardson, Texas who had English as a second Language.

In 1942, she went on a blind date with 2nd Lt Holland B. Evans, who was stationed at camp Barkley. They were happily married for nearly 70 years. The Nell Blakney Evans Memorial Scholarship at McMurry is named in her honor. She is survived by her husband, Holland, sons Holland Jr. and Greg, grandsons Holland IV (Bo) and Blakney (Blake), and four great grandchildren. Holland Jr. (1966) and Holland IV (2003) are also graduates of McMurry.

She was a longtime member of the First Methodist Church of Richardson, Texas. She had a passion for travel and for exploring other cultures. She and her husband were among the first Westerners to visit China. Her hobbies included needlepoint, photography, birding, collecting Chinese postage stamps and antiquing. She and her husband loved their cabin in the mountains of Northern New Mexico and traveled there from Dallas every other month for 30 years.

She loved the Lord and went home to join him on September 4, 2012 while in Houston, Texas, after a long illness.