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Evans Gives Back to QVH
Among the hundreds of people who worked to make this year’s Napa Valley Designers Show House such a success, one man arguably did more for the bottom line than anyone other single volunteer: Don Evans.
Don, who’s president of Evans Airport Service, donated shuttle-bus service for the Show House. On some occasions he even filled in as a driver himself.
“We figure the services Don provided to this Show House alone have to be worth at least $25,000,” says Foundation Chief Development Officer Dick Green. “His generosity is just astounding.”
Don donated shuttle service for two previous Show Houses and also provides transportation every year for the Napa Valley Wine Auction, because the Queen is one of the auction’s beneficiaries. His long record of helping out won him the Foundation President’s Award for “extraordinary service” in 1998.
“Don not only provides the shuttles but helps us in the planning,” says Foundation trustee Jayne Morrell, who has worked with him on several Show Houses. “There’s nothing he won’t do — he’s just wonderful.”
Don says that it’s just his way of repaying the Queen for saving his life almost 40 years ago.
He was born in Iowa but moved to Napa as a child and attended local schools. After graduating from Napa High he enrolled at the community college while working as a school bus driver. One morning in 1963, he was out at the end of Coombsville Road picking up a group of children when he began experiencing severe abdominal pain. The children ran for help and he was taken to Queen of the Valley.
“The hospital was jammed and here I was, a student with no insurance,” Don recalls. “But a nun saw me and grabbed a doctor, saying, ‘This young man’s got to be seen!’ I went right into surgery.” It turned out Don had a perforated ulcer, and if he hadn’t received care quickly he might well have died.
Instead he survived and prospered. His part-time job as a bus driver led him to his current post as administrator for general services with the Napa Valley Unified School District. He also operates Evans Airport Service, which he describes as a kind of full-time hobby. “Other people spend their time away from work golfing,” he laughs. “I go over there and drive a bus.”
But busy as he is, he never forgets the Queen. “After what happened to me, I just dedicated myself to helping the hospital,” he says. “So anytime the hospital needs anything involving transportation, they don’t have to go any farther than me.”
