James (Jim) Edward Evans, age 82, peacefully passed away on 21 February 2026 surrounded by his wife and his three adult children at the Missouri Veterans Home Dover Point Memory Care Unit, Cameron, Missouri, following a very long battle with Alzheimer disease and cancer. The Veteran Home honored Jim’s remains with a Military Honor Walk while playing taps with his veteran wife rendering him a final military salute as his body departed the building for the final time. “Fair winds and following seas” Sailor. Jim led a full and interesting life and is at peace now. 

Jim was the youngest of four children. Born on 17 December 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents Alexander and Marie (Kelly) Evans of Euclid, Ohio. Jim grew up in a house that was yards from Lake Erie in Euclid, Ohio. He spent his childhood boating and sailing on the lake, exploring with friends, and spending days having fun at the family river cottages with his extended large family. Upon graduation from Shore High School in Euclid, Ohio, at age 17 Jim enlisted in the US Navy with dreams of going to sea but ended up flying the skies instead, as the U.S. Navy assigned him a MOS—aviation electronic technician, where he worked on fixed wing aircraft avionics systems while stationed at Norfolk, Virginia. After serving three years in the US Navy, he was honorably discharged as an aviation electronic technician second class (ATN2)/E-5 rank. Following the US Navy, Jim attended Ohio State University where he earned his BS degree in electrical engineering. Upon graduating University, Jim applied for a job with the US federal government as a civilian civil service employee working for the US Navy. He worked on computer and communication programs, on “Black projects” and on high security level weapons and communication systems for 20 years in Northern Virginia and at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. Then he applied for a civil service job promotion to a GS14 position working for the US Army in Alexandria, Virginia, where for 10 years he worked in various positions as a statistician, an electrical engineer, and finally as a project management evaluator on the development, testing, evaluation, and fielding of the US Army’s multimillion dollar program called the Military Command, Control and Communication Systems (MCCCS). The MCCCS project was approved and fielded Army wide right after Jim retired. That was his last assignment prior to his retirement after 30 years in federal civilian service. 

It’s never too late... As a long time eligible bachelor for many years, Jim’s life was about to drastically change one day while working at his job in Alexandria, Virginia. He was introduced to a new incoming, single US Army MAJ Kristie Long assigned to work with him on the US Army’s MCCCS project. They were to be a two man project evaluation team. Well it was not love at first sight, but Jim was easy to work with so they became the Department of Defense MCCCS project evaluation team. However, as Jim and Kristie were both single, the matchmakers in the office were hard at work. Over the months Jim and Kristie traveled together often to different military installations as the MCCCS project’s evaluation team. Even though they were total opposite personalities, surprisingly they had a few things in common besides being single. One thing they didn’t have in common was task processing styles. Jim was a quiet introvert personality who liked to concentrate on his work in silence; single-processor, while Kristie had an extrovert personality who liked to listen to music and talk while working; multi-processor. At one point, Jim secretly tried to switch desks with another coworker because Kristie talked too much so he couldn’t concentrate doing his high level statistical number crunching work on his computer. Well, he didn’t switch desks and over time Kristie and her talking grew on him. Throughout their 29 year marriage, they often laughed about the “desk exchange incident” over the years with Jim saying he was so glad he did not change desks. So Jim fell in love with Kristie over the months and was deciding when to ask her to marry him as she had decided to retire from the US Army in a few months. At this point, Kristie wasn’t romantically interested in Jim but they remained good friends and continued spending weekends together touring Civil War battlefields, going on day trips, antiquing all over Virginia and Maryland, traveling to museums, and eating meals together. One day Kristie found out Jim loved pumpkin pie. She loved to bake and cook so she would often bake 2 or 3 pies and bring Jim 2 homemade pumpkin pies to work; one to eat at work which he shared with coworkers and one pie to take home and eat all by himself. He loved it. Often Kristie would bring home cooked food to work for lunch and share with Jim as all he seemed to eat for lunch was a McDonalds quarter pounder or a microwaved can of pork-n-beans and coffee, of course coffee. Jim told Kristie he could not cook so she felt sorry for him. Kristie’s wise grandma, Wahneeta Long, once told her “a way to a man’s heart was through his stomach”. So Kristie happened to cook good and Jim happened to eat good. Then came the life changing week long MCCCS project work trip to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Jim rented a car which he drove them from Virginia to New Jersey. This work trip took place over the Easter long weekend so when everyone else went home to spend Easter with their families, Jim and Kristie decided to drive through the Adirondack Mountains, New York, to site see which was fine until Kristie saw a sign that read “Montreal Canada 200 miles”. Kristie told Jim well since it is a long weekend, let’s drive to Canada so they did and on late Friday night stayed at a new Marriott hotel downtown Montreal which was right next to the historical Notre-Dame Cathedral—Montreal. On Saturday they toured the city of Montreal. Then they decided to attend Easter Sunday mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral which was conducted all in French; neither of them were Catholic nor spoke French. It was in that Cathedral Kristie started to “fall in love” with Jim who had always treated her like a queen and was such a kind gentleman—Divine intervention? That Sunday evening they drove in a blinding snowstorm through Vermont almost running out of gas back to Fort Monmouth with a couple hours to spare before the 0800 Monday meeting began. After that trip, they drove back to Virginia to the office. One weekend after the Canada trip, Jim asked Kristie to marry him and she said yes. In between business work trips they flew to Missouri to get married over a long weekend at the historical Memorial Chapel on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On Monday they flew back to Virginia where the following day the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Evans, headed to Fort Hood, Texas, for another week of high-level meetings and briefings which Jim and Kristie were both briefers. After they got back to Virginia from Texas, Jim and Kristie both decided to retire on 1 January 1997. Shortly after retiring, they went on their delayed honeymoon for two weeks in Oahu, Hawaii, where Kristie had previously been stationed for four years. That trip was followed by a 15 day Panama Canal cruise with Kristie’s parents. They started a new chapter in their lives together by moving from Virginia to Missouri to be around family and to start their own family, which they did. Together as retired older parents they raised their sons Boone and Kristopher and their daughter Krista-Bo, in Liberty, Missouri, where they have resided in the same home for 29 years. 

Jim had a myriad of interests and hobbies. He was an avid reader and collector with focus on early American history, native American Indian history, Trains and American Flyer model trains, and everything about the Civil War. Jim loved to listen to jazz and had an impressive jazz record and CD collection with his favorite musicians being Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis. Minutes before his passing he was listening to Miles Davis music. Jim also loved to tour Civil War and revolutionary war battlefields; visit museums; antique shopping; collecting American Flyer model trains and running his trains on track layouts; collecting antique Erector building and chemistry sets; hiking all year round in national and state parks; tent camping with the family; chilling with a beer(s) on the beach; boating and canoeing; working on cars; snow skiing; working on science projects; taking unplanned long drives in the country side he called “short cuts”; cleaning the house; stamp collecting; fossil and rock collecting; working an advanced math problem that took days to solve “to keep his brain sharp”; studying quantum physics “just for fun”; collecting and repairing old clocks; collecting and rebinding antique books; being with his cats and his dog Ubu, his fur buddy who he called “Ubee”; and traveling with his wife and kids on family driving trips all over the country camping primarily on military bases. Most of all he loved his coffee 24/7, his daily PBJ sandwiches he called “snacks”, his pancakes with real maple syrup, peanuts, and his wife’s homemade pumpkin pies. Jim took great pride in protecting and providing for his family as his main love in life was his wife Kristie, his three children, and his pets. 

Jim was a special soul who was loved and admired by all who knew or met him as he was a quiet man, private, KIND, loyal, intelligent, modest, dedicated, humble, gracious, considerate, respectful, fun, loving, athletic, patient, sympathetic, non-judgmental, studious, curious, adventurous, generous to a fault, always a gentleman, easy going, and willing to help other people regardless. On numerous occasions, Kristie was told by many nurses and staff at the Missouri Veterans Home that Jim was so kind, easy going, and that he was one of their favorite residents. Jim was a dedicated family man, father, husband, son, brother, son-in-law, uncle, great uncle, and great great uncle. Jim was raised Methodist and later on, for over 15 years, was an active member in the United Methodist Church (UMC) known as “the Church on the hill”, of Liberty, Missouri. 

Jim is proceeded in death by his parents Alexander and Marie (Kelly) Evans, his older sister Jane Evans, and his two older brothers: John Marshall Evans and Lloyd (Tom) Thomas Evans; Jim worshipped and adored his two older brothers. He was the last survivor of the “3 Ohio Evans Brothers”. Jim is survived by his wife of 29 years, Kristie A. Long–Evans of Liberty, Missouri; his two sons Boone Alexander Evans and Kristopher William Evans, both of Liberty, Missouri; daughter Krista-Bo (Bo) Marie Evans who Jim called “his little princess”, of Liberty, Missouri; mother-in-law Joanne Long of Kansas City, Missouri; brother-in-law Robert Long (Rajie) of Alexandria, Virginia; niece Kristine (Tom) Carpenter of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; niece Jennifer Blaylock of San Angelo, Texas; nephew William Long of Alexandria, Virginia; nephew Robert (Mary Lou) Evans, of Ohio; nephew Jack (Diane) Evans, of Ohio; niece Patty (Gary) Stromberg, of Ohio; nephew Charles “Chuck” Evans (Bonnie), of Ohio; nephew Todd (Jane) Evans, of Ohio; niece Nancy (Craig) Todd, of Ohio; niece Leigh Garam, of Ohio; niece Lori (Pete) Sprockhoff, of Ohio; niece Lynn Hutchings (Doug), of Ohio, numerous great nieces and great nephews, great great nieces, and great great nephews. 

Visitation is scheduled on 4 March 2026 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. (central time) at Park Lawn Funeral Home-North Chapel, 1640 N. State Route 291, Liberty, Missouri, followed by a memorial service at 11:00-12:00. Then depart for the Leavenworth National Cemetary (no police escort) located at 150 Muncie Road, Leavenworth, Kansas. Vehicles will line up at 1:15 p.m. at the Cemetary entrance to be guided to the gravesite. The Military Honors ceremony begins at 1:30 p.m. followed by the burial. Note: The cemetery is NOT on Ft. Leavenworth military base. 

Kristie and her family would especially like to thank the wonderful caring and dedicated nurses, doctors, and all the supporting staff personnel at the Missouri Veterans Home, Cameron, Missouri, for the dignified, loving, respectful, exceptional care they provided to Jim over the past 1.5 plus years while he was living at the Missouri veterans home and also give thanks to the Comfort Care Hospice nurses and staff for their respectful support and care they gave Jim during his last days. 

In memory of Jim and his military service, in lieu of flowers send a monetary donation to: The Missouri Veterans Home, In Memory of James E. Evans, 1111 Euclid Avenue, Cameron MO 64429.