David William Evans

David William Evans, age 88, died August 12, 2022, in Bloomington, Indiana. He was a long-time resident of Prosser, Washington where he worked at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center as a Professor of Agronomy associated with Washington State University for his entire career. His research centered on forage crops. He was born on October 6, 1933, in Erie, Pennsylvania to Harold Hayberger Evans and Virginia Stoliker Evans and grew up working on the family's dairy farm. He graduated from Millcreek Highschool in 1951 and went to Yale University, graduating in 1955 with a B.S. (summa cum laude) in Plant Science, while spending summers digging ditches (a lifelong passion) in Erie and one summer as a firefighter in Montana. He went on to earn an M.S. (1958) and Ph.D. (1962) at Cornell University and did postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan. He married Dorothy Ann Schulze of Erie on February 20, 1963, and they drove from Erie to Prosser, through the southern U.S. and up the West Coast, on their honeymoon. The couple loved projects and raising things. At one point, they had twenty 20-gallon tanks of tropical fish, over 400 canaries (which attracted school tours), a 50-year-old turtle, and many outdoor cats. After their sons left home, they donated tons of fresh produce to the Prosser Food Bank from their huge garden; both were Master Gardeners for over 25 years. David and Dorothy were recognized as Prosser Outstanding Citizens of the Year in 2005. David was a quiet, skilled, kind, and knowledgeable man. He built their new home and the rock walls around it, taught his sons many skills, and shared his encyclopedic knowledge of nature. He was a prodigious climber, runner, and walker, who summitted Mt. St. Helens (pre-eruption), Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier; who ran rather than ate lunch every day at work; and who regularly walked up the Horse Heaven Hills even after retiring in 1998. He is survived and dearly missed by wife Dorothy, sister Nina Ruth Geiger of Bethesda, son Harold G. Evans and his wife Sandrine of Bloomington, son William S. Evans and his wife Sarah Pike of Vancouver, Canada, grandchildren Katharine and Rebecca Evans, nephew David J. Geiger, and niece Elizabeth Geiger. No services are scheduled at this time. Cremation Rites have been accorded. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory have been entrusted with arrangements. Online condolences, photos and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com

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David William Evans

October 6, 1933 - August 12, 2022