MILITARY SERVICE, FAMILY LIFE, AND ARCHITECTURAL PROMISE (to 1922)

Raymond began his lifelong career in architecture at seventeen (1912) and continued with top-tier Utah firms until World War I intervened (Fiedler & Hilton, Letters):

• Ware & Treganza (1912 +)
• Cannon & Fetzer (1915 +)
• Floyd Hamill, Butte, MT (1916)
• Woolley & Evans (his brother and brother-in-law) (1917)
• Villadsen Brothers (1917)

In 1916, at 21 years of age and without a formal education, he was offered a partnership with Randall L. Jones’ architectural firm in Cedar City, UT (Letters).

There are few artifacts of Raymond’s work during this time. The Ashton & Evans blueprint archives (Special collections) include a few Ware & Treganza works during the correct time period, but no specific evidence that Raymond worked on the design or drawing.

While at Villadsen Brothers, Raymond registered for the draft and applied to Ordnance Training School. William Ware, Lewis T. Cannon, and Anders Villadsen wrote glowing recommendations about Raymond’s work quality, work ethic, and character (Letters).

Raymond was inducted in mid-1918 and spent two months at the Army Training School at the University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) studying Concrete & Cement; and Drafting, Detailing, and Tracing. He finished all courses with “Excellent” ratings with especially high marks in Resourcefulness and Personal Qualities. He left immediately for Europe serving in the 313^th Engineers in France until June 1919. His experiences are a cipher, since according to his daughters he never said much more about the war than that “they had me painting latrine signs.” When he returned to Utah in 1919, he worked again for Villadsen Brothers as a structural engineer until 1922 at which time he entered into the Ashton & Evans partnership (Fiedler & Hilton, Letters).

In 1923, Raymond married Emily Marie Lewis. Prior to the wedding Raymond had designed and built a red brick, two-bedroom home that they moved into on their wedding night. They raised two children, Raona (1925) and Margaret (1929) in that house, and a larger one next door that Raymond also designed.

ASHTON & EVANS (1922 - 1962)

The history, projects, and legacy of Ashton & Evans (A&E) are documented elsewhere on this site. On this page, I hope to describe Raymond Evans’ love of architecture, his work ethic, and his service to the architectural and civic communities.

Raymond “loved his work and work was his life. Saturdays he worked, and the weekdays he worked.” (Funeral service). Then on Sunday he would sleep a little later than usual and go into the office where he could be alone and work for a couple of hours by himself (Fiedler & Hilton). A description of Raymond’s work through several voices:

• Raymond’s nephew Edmund M. Evans: “He worked hard all his life to achieve the things and success he had. He was more or less, after a high school education, self-schooled in architecture and attained those things by good, hard work….He was a man who had a real respect for a honest day’s labor [and] had no use for the loafer” (Funeral services).
• Utah Chapter A.I.A.: “A terror on the telephone and in the middle of a specification session, but a heart of gold, a diamond in the rough. An honest man believing in an honest day’s toil, expecting others around him to work as hard and conscientiously as he” (Raymond L. Evans, 1962).
• Ted Jacobsen of Jacobsen Construction: “I never knew this man to do shoddy work. I never knew him to expect shoddy work of any of those who worked for him” (Funeral services).
• Raymond Evans’ daughters: “The partnership of Ashton and Evans was unique. Mr. Ashton was a very social type of person who did all the job seeking and obtaining. [Mr. Evans] on the other hand, was more than content to sit at the drafting table and carry out that end of the work. They worked remarkably well together” (Fiedler &Hilton).

But, in my opinion, the best description of Raymond at A&E is from a recent interview of Elden Talbot (Pruyn & Pinion):

When I came to Salt Lake, I had three offers – one of them was from Ashton, Evans and Brazier….Ray Evans was very ill …[and] had me take him around to the site observation visits; I got to know him quite well. Most of the people in the office were scared to death of him …. He expected to be respected. They didn’t call him Ray; they called him Mr. Evans. … I’d been working for him for a few months … [when] he came in, and was going over the projects, and said, “Oh, that’s not the way I wanted it done.” Stupid me, I said, “Mr. Evans, I learned a lot in architecture school, but I didn’t learn to read your mind.” You could have heard a pin drop. I thought I was done. That cemented him to me; it was just the kind of thing he liked …. I have the greatest respect for Ray Evans.

Raymond “was active in service clubs, in community affairs, in societies; and worked very hard in them, but always in the background. He never sought the flamboyant jobs; he never sought leadership in presidencies or in those types of offices … but he was always a hard worker when he was put on a committee or when he worked in an organization” (Funeral services).

He was an active member of:

• American Institute of Architects: Utah Chapter, president
• Utah State Architects’ Examining board: 1939 – 1950
• Fort Douglas Club
• Aviation Club
• Rotary Club: Salt Lake

Raymond read for several hours every evening, and his only diversions away from work and home were a golf game, a poker game, or an occasional symphony concert or ballet. He did own a tuxedo for the few formal occasions he had to attend. He was never good at small talk, but among his peers he tried to be more social (Fiedler & Hilton).

In 1942, he proactively requested – and was offered – a commission as Captain in the US Army Engineers Office. However, within a few weeks, Ashton, Evans & Hodgson were awarded the contract for Bushnell Military hospital in Brigham City and Raymond asked that the commission be deferred (Letters).

RAYMOND’S LATER LIFE (1962 - 1963)

In mid-1962, Raymond was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He was initially disheartened by the news, but eventually began to ignore his plight (Fiedler & Hilton).

In January 1963, Raymond was selected as the second recipient of the Gold Medal Award by the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for his notable and meritorius service to the profession. At the ceremony, with his typical humility, he commented on how noticable his lack of education and credentials seemed to him.

Throughout the twenty months of the terrible ordeal, he slowly felt himself weaken, but busied himself with his work. “Just three of four days before he entered the hospital for the final experience in life … he had been working on the drafting board in his basement office. He had talked with members of the firm who had come there to discuss matters with him… He worked until the end” (Marie L. Evans quoted in Funeral services). He passed away in Salt Lake City in October 1963.

Two days later, on behalf of the firm, B.E. Brazier presented the family with what we call the blueprint: “the longest list of architectural projects designed by any Utah architect” along with the names of 25 men who “received a substantial part of their training as apprentices to Raymond L. Evans, A.I.A.” (Mr. E).