Compiled by John Evans (June 2015)
Oscar Evans was born on April 3, 1904 in Anderson County, Tennessee. His father was Joseph Franklin Evans and his mother was Minda Catherine Humphrey Evans.
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here were eight children in the family and the order of birth was Flossie, Olen, Oscar, Ethel, Creed, Moss, Mable, and Woodrow.
The family lived on a farm in Union County in an area called Dark Hollow. The county line between Anderson County and Union County ran through their farm. Oscar said that the family at one time also lived in a town called Loyston. The family moved from there before the TVA relocated families in the town in 1928 due to the flooding that would occur when Norris Dam was completed in 1933. Oscar’s Grandfather and Grandmother were buried in the Loyston Cemetery and they were moved to the New Loyston Cemetery before the Loyston area became Norris Lake. The widest point of Norris Lake (approximately 1 mile wide) is above the former town of Loyston and is referred to as Loyston Sea. The family later moved to Powell Station in Knox County in about 1920. Oscar’s father decided to move the family to Powell because the Ivory Bluffs School and later the Melbourne School only went thru the fourth grade. When they moved, Oscar was in the fourth grade and when he enrolled at Powell he was promoted to the eighth grade. I guess you could say he was “Smarter Than A Fifth Grader”. Oscar and his future bride, Jeanette Cooper, graduated from Powell High in 1925.
He married Jeanette Cooper on June 1, 1928 and they lived with Jeanette’s mother, Lela Cooper on Copeland Road until they bought a house on Harmon Road in Powell from F.W. Gill on Sept. 18, 1934. The house was sold to Larry and Kendra Stephens on June 2, 1997 after Oscar lost his mobility and entered NHC St. Marys. Oscar went to work for C.M. McClung Co. in 1933 and worked there in various capacities until McClung was sold and the buying company closed it.
John O’Brien Evans was born in 1934 and O.E. Evans II was born in 1946. Oscar was a member of and served in various capacities (such as Sunday School Superintendent) at Bells Camp Ground Methodist Church for many years and later moved his membership to Powell United Methodist and was a member of Beaver Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church when he passed away at NHC St. Marys on July 12, 2001. When I went to NHC on July 12th to be with dad during his lunch hour, Peggy the head nurse told me that dad was near death. While he was laying in bed with his eyes closed, the young lady that was director of programs for the residents came into the room and sat by dad’s bed and began to sing “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”. Before she had finished the song, I noticed that dad had stopped breathing. What a way to go. The time on the clock in the room read 12:20 pm. He is buried in Bells Campground Cemetery next to Jeanette. Oscar was also a member of Powell Masonic Lodge #582 and the Order of Eastern Star #335 for over sixty years.