This is Evelyn Irene “Evy” Reis, who died just over a year ago on June 7, 2012, age 93. Evy was a great encouragement to me.
She was born and lived all of her life in Chenoa, Illinois. She was an active writer and very history minded, and it was her I was put in touch with when I was tracking down information about George Ferree, the WWI veteran who built a makeshift radio found at Fort Monmouth.
Ferree it turns out was one of her high school teachers. Evy found clippings for me at the Chenoa Historical Society, and put me in touch with Eddie Ferree, George’s son, who had his father’s journal.
She stayed in touch after that, sending words of encouragement, some of her own writing, and a Christmas card every year. She was a delight and, even though I never met her in person, I miss her a great deal. Thank you, Evy.
From her obituary:
Evelyn was born September 17, 1918 in Chenoa the daughter of Harry James and Mary Henrietta (Oldenburg) Miller. She married Hugo Robert Reis on November 17, 1940 in St. Louis, MO. He passed away on May 20, 1996.
Mrs. Reis was a 1936 graduate of Chenoa High School and attended ISNU, Normal. She was an executive secretary for State Farm Insurance Companies and Chenoa Community Schools from 1951-1974. She spent the next ten years working at Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community, as Volunteer Director and Round Robin Editor. She retired in 1984 and enjoyed winters with her husband in Sarasota, FL.
She served on numerous boards in her community and was an active member of the Chenoa Women’s Club, Arts and Travel Club, and Historical Society.
Evy loved to write and many of her poems and articles are published in national magazines. She wrote and directed pageants over the years for the Chenoa’s Alumni Association, Women’s Club and United Methodist Church. She wrote and directed the pageant “Through the Years II” for Chenoa’s Sesquicentennial celebration in 2004. She authored several articles published for the Chenoa Historical Society to include “Til I Come Marching Home”, “Memories of Chenoa”, “History of Chenoa Schools”, “Chenoa School Memories” and “Thoughts, Memories and Poetry”. In July of 2005 she was named “Chenoan of the Year”