Jessica Evans

is honored with a Brick from June Allen.

When Jessica Evans came to Wichita in 1981, she brought extraordinary energy, imagination, and altruism.

Too soon a widow, she transformed grief into community gift by administering the Gordon W. Evans Charitable Trust. She says of her late husband, "Gordon was president and CEO of KG&E, but he was much more. He loved music. He was a strong supporter of the Wichita Symphony and a founder of Music Theater of Wichita."

Jessica honors his memory through significant contributions in the fine arts, establishing a music scholarship, underwriting community events in music and drama, supporting the Kay Closson Women's Writing Series, and giving to the Wiedemann Hall Building Fund, to name just a few.

The focused generosity-plus-action of Jessica Evans extends also to the public schools. When she realized the scholastic needs of many children, she established the Gateway Reading Program, persuasively recruiting a cadre of tutors who have come faithfully for over a decade to share books and phonics and cookies with grade school children.

Jessica Evans' Gateway Program has been so successful that others seek her help with similar undertakings. This help is always freely given.

Despite such major demands on her time, she has been a Big Sister for eight years, greatly enriching the life of a young woman who is now in college and doing well.

There is no question that Jessica Evans should be recognized in Wichita as a heroine on many fronts: the arts, women's lives, and children's hopes.

September 16, 1998