Obituary of Paul Thomas Evans

Paul was born Nov.1, 1955 at home in Gillingham Kent, England, to Tom and Hilda Evans. His father served in the British Army as a bandsman, and when Paul was 6 mo. old the family moved to Canada when his father transferred to the Canadian Army. Paul’s mother was Canadian, born near Craigmyle, just west of Hanna, to British parents. Their family had moved back to England in 1935 when they could no longer make a living from their farm.

Paul happily grew under the nurture of his family, including two older sisters. What adventures, living in New Brunswick, Germany, Ontario, Victoria BC, and Calgary Alberta. As a teenager in Calgary, he would often babysit his nieces and nephew, and his sister Jennie paid him with whatever he wanted from McDonald’s. It was a very agreeable arrangement, and Uncle Paul was well loved by his nieces and nephews! When Paul’s dad retired from the army he took on the position of Bandmaster for the 5 schools in the County of Mountain View. And so it was that the family moved to Didsbury with Paul in grade 12. It was here that he met Mary Lou and love began to blossom.

Paul and Mary Lou married on August 14, 1976. Paul was still a student in Bible College, so Mary Lou worked on her PHT degree…Putting Hubby Through! He graduated with a Bachelor of Religious Education, with a major in Pastoral Studies. During his last year of college they lived in Cremona where Paul did his internship and they commuted daily to Didsbury for Paul’s classes, and Mary Lou went on to Olds where she worked as a registered Dental Assistant.

From there they went to a rural church east of Olds, May City, where they ministered for 10 years. Caleb was born during this time, a welcome addition to the family. Paul was always happy to help the farmers out if they needed an extra person to drive truck during harvest, or help handle cattle when they were sorting, tagging, or whatever else! There were many humorous stories to be told about these adventures. Here he also worked with the youth group and a lot of fun was had by all…cross country ski trip to Kananaskis, the “Farmer’s Olympics” when we hosted another youth group, pranks on each other on Halloween….so fun!

From here they went to the Hoadley Church, about 20 miles north of Rimbey. Caleb was starting grade 2 when they moved there. These were wonderful years with lots of good memories….Paul coached soccer teams, helped with VBS, took part in youth activities, and took part in community Christmas programs where he became well-known for singing “Six White Boomers” complete with Australian accent! He faithfully attended as many of Caleb’s hockey games and basketball games and he could, and of course he brought his bugle to help raise the noise level!

He took a small hiatus from pastoring and was caretaker of the museum in Rimbey and also worked at the Rimbey Arena. After a couple of years he found out that Oyen church was in need of a pastor and he followed the Lord’s call to that ministry. After 5 years at the Oyen church he resigned from the ministry, but God provided work for him at the Oyen arena for the next 10 years until retiring on disability at the age of 60.

Paul was always a very creative person and dove in whole-heartedly to any project he took on. He always had great ideas, and even if the idea didn’t work out, it was often the catalyst to getting ideas shared and conversations started. His sermons included lots of stories and illustrations, sometimes a monologue (something he had always enjoyed when Colin Meikle did it), sometimes power-point, and pictures on the overhead projector back in the day!

Paul loved Kayaks. He and his dad built a wood and canvas kayak together when he was in scouts in Calgary. Years later he took a course in the evenings at Olds College and built 2 fiberglass kayaks. He also loved music and learned to play many of the brass instruments. He also had a beautiful singing voice, and attributed that to his Welsh heritage. He like to tinker with bicycles over the years, and also enjoyed doing a bit of woodwork. He loved riding his bicycle and felt such freedom when riding it. He kept at this until his legs and feet no longer cooperated. When Covid struck, he took on the challenge of “making noise” by playing one of his horns every day at 3pm in support of the nurses and doctors on the front lines. Many people remember those days.

He was diagnosed with a neuro-muscular disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, in December 1997 and did very well coping with the challenges it presented, right up until the end.

Paul was predeceased by a brother, Allan John Evans at the age of 12, in 1951; his mother Hilda in 1989; his father Thomas in 1994; and his sister Jennifer. He is survived by his wife Mary Lou, son Caleb (Julie), grandson Kyan, granddaughter Ayla, and his sister Sandra (Monty) Fulton. He will be missed by his sister and brothers-in-law, Gayle and Colin McEwing and son Vaughn (Lisa), Gwen and Jim Chopko, and Norma Jean and Victor Howard and son Terry (Lindsey). And of course, his nieces and nephews will also miss him greatly…Colleen (Derek) Johnston and daughters Bronte and Megan, Pauline Nienhuis and family Quinn Johnston and Emma Nienhuis, Allan Connors (Jennifer) and family Emma and Sam, Jennie Lee (Craig) Foster and son Jake , Liesl Fulton (and Tim), and Kaj Fulton (Kelsey) and son Kade.

God was very important to Paul, and he came to know Jesus as his Saviour when he was 18 years old. His friends from Bible College became life-long friends. Jesus has been the rock on which he built his life, and the principle on which he has based every decision. What a happy welcome awaited him at heaven’s gate! Heaven’s gain is our loss, but we know we will meet again!

A recording is now available