Dolores Severson Evans

Dolores Severson Evans

Sun Prairie native Dolores Severson Evans died at her home in Tucson, Arizona on January 17, 2021.

Dolores was raised in Sun Prairie when it was a small town (before, during, and after WWII), and felt that growing up where everyone knew everyone else provided a realistic view of human nature. Very active socially, she had fond memories of Bristol Lutheran Church and Sun Prairie schools. She attributed the surprising quality of the education she received in part to new techniques and student teachers from the University of Wisconsin. She grew up on a three-acre farmette at 611 West Main Street, with a cow and a horse ("Lady"), plum and crabapple trees, rhubarb and currants, and a large vegetable garden. This is all long gone, and the house demolished, as Sun Prairie ballooned into a busy suburb of Madison - a process she found disheartening.

Her parents, Clarence Severson and Mae Reinen, hailed from Norwegian-American farming families along Happy Valley Road. Clarence later became mayor (1965-1969) and afterwards a Dane County supervisor - Severson Drive is named after him. Mae helped manage their businesses in trucking, road repair, and residential rentals.

After graduating from Sun Prairie High School and attending the University of Wisconsin in Madison for a year, Dolores transferred to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she completed her B.A. Later she earned an M.A. in education from Indiana University in Bloomington. Altogether, she taught school for some thirty years, mostly fifth and sixth graders, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Downers Grove, Oreana, and Park Forest, Illinois; and the Paradise Valley School District in Phoenix, from where she retired. In her teaching, she used a number of creative techniques, such as reading aloud in class with each student taking a part in a play, or asking students to put pencil to paper and keep writing - even if it meant repeating the same word - in order to develop writing fluency. In the classroom, she put a stop to teasing, and said, "My biggest job as a teacher was to provide a safe place to learn."

Dolores enjoyed life, whether it included travel (including her annual visit back to Sun Prairie), reading, shopping, or even television. She made a point of watching one or two things in the evening as if in a movie theater, without ads - her favorite shows included Murder She Wrote, Rockford Files, and Whose Line Is It Anyway?

She was an avid follower of the news, and in later years listened to a number of podcasts. These included Ralph Nader, Mike Papantonio, Peter B. Collins, and (World According to) Jesse Ventura. She listened daily to Mitch Henck and enjoyed his sense of humor. She would be sad to know that Larry King died - she appreciated his curiosity, sympathetic approach, and focus on asking questions (all characteristics which she shared).

Dolores said that one of the most painful things in life was to not have your parents around anymore. She also deeply missed her brother Vernon Severson, grandmother Helen Mell Reinen, and godmother Minnie Larson Reinen.

Most of all, she missed her husband of 44 years, Lee Evans, a Chicagoan, whom she began dating at St. Olaf. Among his attributes were kindness, an ability to listen, and a creativity in travel and exploring whatever city or region he lived in, whether it be Illinois's Lincoln country, southwest Wisconsin, or northern Arizona. Together they provided an encouraging, supportive family atmosphere for their children.

Dolores is survived by her family, relatives, and friends. Her absence will be an inalterable subtraction from our own lives, and she will always be present in our thoughts. She will also be remembered by her students, who may think back on occasion to something they learned in an interesting way or an enjoyable moment in the classroom.

Dolores died of unexpected heart problems. She tested negative for Covid, but the pandemic restrictions even in the hospital's non-Covid ward isolated her and made it impossible for us to be at her side - which was heartbreaking. She died in her own house only an hour after being discharged to home hospice.

There will be no service due to these Covid times, and she will be buried next to Lee in his family graveyard outside Logansport, Indiana.