Kay Evans

Kay Frances Evans, 82, died Thursday, Sept. 8, 2021 at Ashton Creek Health Center in Fort Wayne.  Kay was born on April 27, 1939, in Kendallville, Indiana, to Mary Delight and Ned Weihmiller. She and her brother John grew up on the farm and went to Kendallville High School; Kay graduated in 1957. During high school, Kay volunteered as a Candy Striper at McCray Hospital-a hint of years of volunteerism to come, as well as a test-run of what would become her life-long career and professional passion, nursing.

Kay left Kendallville to attend Fort Wayne’s Parkview-Methodist School of Nursing and graduated in 1960, where she made life-long friends who gather nearly every year to this day. She met William (Bill) Evans in Ft. Wayne (on a blind date!) in 1964, and they were married in 1965 at the church in which she grew up, Wayne Center Methodist in Kendallville. On July 31st of this year, they celebrated their fifty-sixth wedding anniversary, living in Fort Wayne their entire married lives.

Kay was a career RN in Fort Wayne, working at Parkview Hospital and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital before she retired from nursing in 1994. During retirement, Kay volunteered extensively at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church where she and Bill are life-long members; she was a tutor in the nursing program at Ivy Tech Community College; and she and Bill went on several mission trips to Connellsville, Pennsylvania in partnership with the local United Methodist Church. 

Music was another of Kay’s passions, having been surrounded by it at home and in church growing up.  As a young woman she sang at weddings and enjoyed singing in church for many years. She and Bill enjoyed bowling in a league and late in her life some of her greatest joys were watching professional football (go Colts!) and tennis (she would have loved this year’s US Open), talking on the phone to and (with seeming never-ending energy) making home-made birthday cards for friends and family.

Family was a huge priority for Kay, and she is survived by her husband and two daughters, Jill S. (Drew) Robinson of Colorado Springs, CO and Jennifer K. (Michael) Speciale of Fort Wayne, as well as brother John Weihmiller (Sara) and his three children. She cherished her grandchildren, Sylvie Kay Robinson (16) and Paul Vincent Speciale (12).

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Good Shepherd United Methodist Church or your favorite charity in Kay’s name.