Remembering Elaine Evans
It is with sadness that we share the news of Elaine Evans's passing on Thursday October
13, 2022. Elaine worked at the Medical Library beginning in 1994 and retiring in
spring of 2020 as a Medical Library Assistant. Though she had the same job title
for most of her career, her work evolved through a variety of duties over the years
and through a highly evolving time for libraries. Her primary focus shifted from maintaining
government documents and general reference to a more specialized focus on consumer
health and community outreach initiatives, for which she received much recognition.
Many of you are aware of the award-winning Color My World Healthy program that Elaine
was instrumental in starting and sharing with the Johnson City Community Centers.
Elaine received the “Friends of Nature” award from Johnson City Parks and Recreation
in 2017 recognizing her Color My World Healthy work. She received numerous grants
over the years to help support her projects. Even after her retirement, she still
continued to work tirelessly developing programming at the consumer health library
at Carver Recreation Center.
Elaine also was heavily involved in supporting any sort of student engagement by the
Medical Library. Often, she would volunteer time and energy to ensure activities
such as new student orientations and Medical Library Month celebrations were a success.
Nakia, Elaine’s supervisor for many years, shares that with her friends and colleagues,
Elaine was always encouraging of their efforts and activities providing help where
needed and was thoughtful by remembering important events and plans with supportive
emails and treats. Elaine also served for many years as a standardized patient, helping
ETSU students learn critical skills for interacting with patients; SP program director
Perry Butler said Elaine was one of their longest-serving SPs and “She was a kind
and generous soul and will be greatly missed.”
Elaine's creative energy, enthusiasm, commitment to community, and care of all the people she encountered will be deeply missed.