Geraint N. D. Evans

Geraint N. D. Evans Geraint Evans was killed last Christmas in a car accident in California. He was thirty-six. I had been in touch with him by telephone only a few days earlier, and I shall never forget the incredulity I felt when his widow, Ursula, wrote to tell me of his death. He was one of the most vital, energetic , mobile and tempestuous men I had ever known, and his passing seemed an insult to nature. It was Geraint who founded and who became the first president of the Canadian Association for American Studies, and played a decisive role in its early years. In spite of his characteristic impatience with bureaucracy, he was a good organiser. In a very few months from his initial invitation to interested scholars he whipped into shape the two-day organisational meeting that took place in October of 1964 at McGill. The closing paragraph of the letter of invitation to that conference is typical of the man's ebullience and style: Some sort of statement of high hopes is customary at this stage of our work. As a historian, perhaps I may be permitted a touch of the traditional. The inauguration of the Canadian Association for American Studies, if the conference accepts that designation , is indeed an event of importance. The fog of public misinformation and ignorance and the haphazard character of much of the professional work being done in these areas is well known to each of us. The Association can surely fill large gaps. The failure to obtain a grant to aid our initial efforts is disappointing, but the future is challenging and promising. It takes a cloud to appreciate the sunbeams! It was due in large part to his effort and enthusiasm that the Association so quickly took hold, organised its first scholarly meeting and published the first issue of the Bulletin. By the time he left Canada for a new teaching job in the United States in 1967, it was firmly established. Geraint was a Welshman, educated at Cambridge in England and at Yalein Connecticut. Such a combination of derivation and education made for a complex mixture, in which, I think it fair to say, the Celtic temperament took pride of place. It manifested itself largely in a certain impatience with the inevitable shortcomings of human institutions. In the next four years he moved in rapid succession from McGill to Southern Illinois THE CANADIAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES VOL, III, NO. 2 1 FALL1972 University, to Richmond College of New York City University, to Chapman College in Orange, California and back to Richmond. But in each place he left a lasting mark: voted one of the three best teachers of the year at S.I.U., Secretary of the Faculty and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at Richmond, a leader in curriculum reform at Chapman. He had already published three books at the time of his death, and in his telephone call to me spoke enthusiastically of his current research, which seemed to be moving well after a period of some frustration and ill-health. In short, Geraint Evans' s career seems to have been setting towards a high level of achievement and it was tragic to see it cut off so short. In the Memorial service at Chapman College, Professor Kurt Bergel aptly compared his career at Chapman to that of a meteor or shooting star. So he was to American Studies in Canada. But his course left something more permanent here than a fiery trail, for the Canadian Association for American Studies will surely be a lasting monument to his name. But to the warmth, volatility, energy and uniqueness of his personality there can be no adequate monument, and for such a man, there can be no replacement . P.B. 80 ...