Margaret Elizabeth Evans, 101, went to meet her Savior on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017, at Windsor Place in Iola. Her kind personality, quick wit and extensive crossword assistance will be greatly missed.
Margaret was the third of four children born to John A. Griffith and Elizabeth (Driskell) Griffith in Collinsville, Okla., on Jan. 17, 1916. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Iola where she grew up with her siblings and graduated from Iola High School in 1933. She was a member of First Christian Church since 1927; played piano while active in choir, Children’s Choir, Sunday school and Christian Women’s Circle.
She married James Irvin (Irv) Evans on June 12, 1943. He preceded her in death on Dec. 9, 1989.
Margaret was also preceded in death by her parents and two siblings, a sister, G. Celeste Griffith, and a brother, John A. Griffith Jr., MD.
She is survived by two sons, Steven Evans and wife Anita, Overland Park, and Scott Evans and wife, Linda, Austin, Texas; three grandchildren, Shannon Brooks and husband Evan, Denver, Ryan Evans, Prairie Village, and Kristen Dieter and husband, Matthew, Indianapolis; four great-grandchildren, Wyatt and Georgia Brooks of Denver plus Grayson and Oliver Dieter of Indianapolis; and one brother, Jerry Griffith Lawrence.
Her career included stops in Washington, D.C., for the U.S. Labor Department; Kansas City at the Federal Reserve Bank; Tulsa, for the National Bank of Tulsa before returning to Iola as secretary to Thomas H. Bowlus, Allen County State Bank. She also assisted her husband in operating the John Griffith Construction Company and then the Iola Glass Company before retiring.
Visitation will be at Feuerborn Family Service in Iola at 12:30 p.m. Friday with a graveside service following at 2 o’clock in Highland Cemetery, Iola. Memorial donations can be sent to the First Christian Church, 1608 Oregon RD, Iola, KS 66749, or to the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Margaret Evans
