Evelyn Calhoun Bales

Evelyn was born in Bordeaux, South Carolina, to Katherine Brough Link and Orville Gilbert Calhoun. When she was seven, the family moved to Amarillo, Texas, for farming opportunities; they encountered the great dust storms of the 1930's. Evelyn graduated from Texas Women's College when she was 19. She subsequently served as an air traffic controller during World War II, modeled for Neiman Marcus in Dallas, and attended Texas College of Law where she received her J.D. degree. While visiting her parents in Mt. Dora, Florida, in the late 1940's, she met her husband, Donald J. Bales. (Don, being a car enthusiast, noticed Evelyn's red convertible with a western saddle over the back seat and wanted to meet her). After marriage and moving from military base to base, as Don served in the Korean War, they settled in Sanford, Florida.

During her 67 years in Sanford, Evelyn volunteered for the American Cancer Society, was a member of Beta Sigma Phi, served on the Children's Commission for the Health Department, was an active PTA/PTO volunteer at our local schools, was active in the League of Women Voters, and volunteered for the Women's Auxiliary of Seminole Memorial Hospital. She gave up the practice of law to raise her family and to earn her teaching certificate. She also received a fellowship to Stetson University for a PhD program in guidance counseling, but preferred to work within the classroom teaching civics. In the 1960's, she was part of a delegation that traveled to China to foster student exchange. In 1968 she became a pioneer for school integration by volunteering to teach at the historic black school, Crooms High. She continued to teach high school civics until 1989. She was a voracious reader, advocate of healthy living and loved to travel.

Evelyn lived life through a lens of compassion, tolerance and goodwill for all. By teaching and example, she encouraged the expansion of intellectual curiosity and the broadening of moral horizons. She practiced and believed in decency, kindness and unconditional love. Evelyn, or Ms. Bales, will forever be an inspiration and guardian angel to all who knew her.

She is survived by her children Jeff Bales (Christy), Judy Sandefur (Stan), John Bales (Tracy), and Joan Bales; her grandchildren Joey (Megan), Anne, Stuart, Madeline, and Jack; and her great-grandchildren Lily and Jackson.

Please remember Evelyn by making a donation to a charity important to you or through a random act of kindness. Memorial arrangements are forthcoming.