John Evans
27th Governor of Idaho
In office
January 23, 1977 – January 4, 1987
LieutenantWilliam Murphy
Phil Batt
David Leroy
Preceded byCecil Andrus
Succeeded byCecil Andrus
33rd Lieutenant Governor of Idaho
In office
January 6, 1975 – January 23, 1977
GovernorCecil Andrus
Preceded byJack Murphy
Succeeded byWilliam Murphy
Member of the Idaho Senate
In office
1953–1959
1969-1975
Personal details
Born
John Victor Evans

(1925-01-18)January 18, 1925
Malad City, Idaho, U.S.
DiedJuly 8, 2014(2014-07-08) (aged 89)
Boise, Idaho, U.S.
Resting placeMalad City Cemetery
Malad City, Idaho, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Lola Daniels
​
(m. 1945)​
Children5
Alma materStanford University (BA)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
UnitInfantry
Battles/warsWorld War II

John Victor Evans Sr. (January 18, 1925 – July 8, 2014) was an American politician from Idaho. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state's 27th governor and was in office for 10 years, from 1977 to 1987.[1][2]

Biography

Born in Malad, Idaho,[3] Evans was an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war, he attended Stanford University and graduated in 1951.[4] He and his wife, Lola Daniels Evans (1927–2015), were married for over 69 years and had five children: three sons and two daughters.[2][5]

Career

Evans returned to Malad after college to help run the family wheat and cattle ranch.[5] He was elected to the state senate at age 27 in 1952 and re-elected in 1954 and 1956, serving as majority leader in his final term. In 1960, Evans became mayor of Malad City and served in that capacity until 1966. He returned to the state senate in 1969 and served as minority leader from 1969 to 1975.[2]

Evans was elected lieutenant governor in 1974,[1] and became governor in January 1977 when Cecil Andrus accepted an appointment to become the Secretary of the Interior in the new Carter administration.

Evans finished Andrus' term and was elected governor in his own right in 1978, defeating Republican house speaker Allan Larsen of Blackfoot. As of 2023, Evans remains the only Mormon to have won election as governor in Idaho.[3] Arnold Williams was the Mormon first to serve as governor (succeeding to the office following the resignation of Charles Gossett), holding office for slightly over a year starting in late 1945,[6] but lost the 1946 election.

Evans was re-elected in 1982, narrowly defeating Republican lieutenant governor Phil Batt of Wilder in a contest so close on election night that at least one Idaho television network incorrectly declared Batt the winner.[7][8]

After nearly a decade as a governor, Evans unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1986,[9] but was defeated by Republican incumbent Steve Symms of Caldwell.[1] He was succeeded as governor by Andrus, who served two more terms, giving the Democrats six consecutive elections for governor in the state, holding the office from 1971 to 1995.

While he was in office as governor in 1981, Evans's 29-year-old son John was the target of a foiled kidnapping attempt in Burley.[10][11]

Elections

Idaho Gubernatorial Elections: Results 1978–1982
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Votes Pct
1978 John Evans (inc.) 165,540 58.7% Allan Larsen 114,149 39.6% Others 4,877 1.7%
1982 John Evans (inc.) 187,640 52.9% Phil Batt 166,911 47.1%
U.S. Senate elections in Idaho (Class III): Results 1986
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct
1986 John Evans 185,066 48.4% Steve Symms (inc.) 196,958 51.6%
Source:[12]

Later life and death

Evans became president of the family-owned D. L. Evans Bank in Burley in January 1987,[13][14] which was founded in 1904 in Albion by his grandfather, David Lloyd Evans Sr. (1854–1929).[15] Evans died at age 89 in 2014 at his Boise home on July 8.[2][16] Less than year later, his widow Lola died at home in Boise on May 19, 2015, at the age of 88.[17] They are interred at the Malad City Cemetery in Malad City.

References

  1. 1 2 3 NND.com-Governor John V. Evans
  2. 1 2 3 4 "John V. Evans (1925 - 2014)". Idaho Statesman. Boise. obituary. July 10, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  3. 1 2 National Governors Association-John V. Evans Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Idaho Governor John Victor Evans". National Governors Association. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Hall, Bill (January 26, 1977). "John Evans: Hints of things to come". Lewiston Morning Tribune. p. 1.
  6. ↑ "Mormons win Idaho governor primary". Bend Bulletin. Associated Press. August 9, 1978. p. 20.
  7. ↑ Kennedy, John (November 4, 1982). "Gov. Evans rejoices, Batt talks about quitting politics". Associated Press. p. 1C.
  8. ↑ "Phil Batt has seen close races before". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. December 18, 2000. p. 7A.
  9. ↑ Kenyon, Quane (October 28, 1986). "No political truce in Idaho". Spokane Chronicle. Associated Press. p. A4.
  10. ↑ "3 try to kidnap Idaho governor's son". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. May 16, 1981. p. 9C.
  11. ↑ "Karen Evans is a heroine to Idaho governor's family". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. May 16, 1981. p. 5B.
  12. ↑ "Office of the Clerk: Election statistics". U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Evans to take over family bank branch". (Moscow) Idahonian. Associated Press. December 2, 1986. p. 1.
  14. ↑ "Our History". DL Evans Bank. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  15. ↑ Kenyon, Quane (October 11, 1987). "John Evans settling in as banker". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. p. B1.
  16. ↑ "Former Idaho Gov. John V. Evans has died at 89". Idaho State Journal. Pocatello. July 8, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Wife of late Gov. Evans passes away in Boise". Idaho State Journal. 2015-05-20. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
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