Virginia Frances Evans passed away peacefully, on September 19th, 2022. She was born to Curtis Hoots and Stella Frances Miller on September 20th, 1928 in Colorado.
Virginia attended elementary and high school in Denver, Colorado. She worked hard to receive her bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, in 1950. In addition, she completed graduate work at Denver University and was a member of Gamma Phi Beta.
In 2003, she reflected on her life and wrote:
For eight years after graduation, I worked as a secretary, and then I taught business education in Denver Public Schools for 10 years. After my marriage to Lee, I entered 2 new and different careers. Lee and I retired several years ago after having operated as business partners in a management consulting firm and a seminar business for homebuilders for nearly thirty years. We traveled to consulting clients in every state in the Union and attracted attendees to our seminars from the client base as well as other registrants from many different countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and England. Lee has been recognized for his significant contributions to housing America by being inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame, and in January 199 he was named by BUILDER magazine (the Magazine of the National Association for home builders) As one of the 100 most influential people in the housing industry in the 20th Century. Lee has received many prestigious awards and honors and he credits my help for his success.
We have been able to establish a number of scholarships because we have been successful. We established the “Lee Evans scholarship fund” through the National Housing Endowment. We endow the “Lee and Virginia Evans scholarship” for an annual scholarship grant into perpetuity at J. L. Kellogg Graduate School for management, Northwestern University. We also have given a gift to the University of Denver, Burns School of Real Estate, and Construction Management to fund another “Lee and Virginia Evans scholarship.” We established the “Lee and Virginia Hoots Evans Special Camping Endowment” through the Gamma Phi Beta Foundation.
In September 2001 the Humane Society of Boulder Valley completed construction of a new building. We funded the cost of that part of the building (3,500 sq. ft.) which is devoted to cat and kitten care and adoption facilities. This is named, in our honor, the “Lee and Virginia Evans cat and kitten adoption center.
We granted a conservation easement to Colorado Open Lands on 500 acres of our Arapaho Ranch (near Nederland, Colorado) in 1987, and it is now a wildlife refuge and bird sanctuary. Through the years we have received various awards for conservation.
We were blessed with an exciting, successful, and very happy life with our extensive travel worldwide and enjoyable work. We spent our retiring years enjoying Arapaho Ranch in the summers and traveling to warmer climates in the winter in our motorhome.
The memorial service will be held Saturday, October 22, at 1 p.m. at Calvary Chapel Nederland (275 W Second St. Nederland). Memorial contributions can be made to the Boulder Humane Society- Lee and Virginia Cat and Kitten Center (2323 55th St. Boulder) and TRU Hospice Common Care (2594 Trail Ridge Drive East Lafayette).
