Some men define greatness solely through their actions, words never needed to substantiate their deeds. Regardless of their stature, just their presence made them stand taller than most.

Almost every one of these elite and treasured individuals, though, has never walked above another or felt superior to someone else, but they have always reached out their hands in friendship and assistance, displaying a mannerism and a treasured integrity which is today almost extinct.

Such a giant was Leon Merrill Evans, a treasure which Jackson County may never see the likes of again. A man revered beyond description, yet he never met a stranger. A most devoted family man, the world was a part of his home.

A banker, a teacher, a story teller, a man who loved sports. A father, a husband, a trusted friend, someone who would always be there no matter how dark the hour.

A Sunday school teacher, a world traveler, a man who felt at home with foreign dignitaries as much as he did in Rocky Hill with the struggling farmer fighting to make it.

Community leader, a governmental advisor, he once said half-jokingly he had been president of everything except the Mothers' Club, and no statement could have been truer.

And the man very possibly most responsible for our privilege of enjoying the annual Jackson County Apple Festival in Jackson each year.

Leon was every one of these things, and oh, so very much more. A living legend then, he remains a legend today to everyone whose life he ever touched.

Leon Evans left us on September 25, 1966, the day after the completion of the 26th annual Jackson County Apple Festival. His death left a void which will never be filled, but a thousand memories which will never be replaced.

He was truly a one-of-a-kind gentleman, most certainly a man for all seasons. All young men at some time in their life dream of being respected by all, giving all which is possible, and like Leon, being loved and cherished by those whom he cared about most.

But Leon Evans lived that dream, and left an example which most can only dream of ever following.

Although he never farmed full-time, there was no way of separating Evans, the land and the agricultural community. A great deal of Jackson County's agricultural success today can in many ways be traced back to one thing or another Evans did during his lifetime.

When he died at the age of 73, The Standard Journal depicted him as "almost certainly the best known private citizen in Jackson County and perhaps he was the best-loved and most respected."

His path to those accolades was simple; he loved people. He was always trying to find something to do to help someone else. The world was his family and the world loved him for it.

One of those men fortunate enough to work with Evans was Dan Washam, retired president of the BancOhio / First National Bank (now NationalCity Bank) in Jackson. Another man who held a long-time association with him was D. Merrill Davis, who worked closely with Evans on many projects.

The comments of these two current-day leading men of Jackson mirrored each other in their praise of the gentleman who was the leading man of Jackson in his day.
"He liked people and he liked to associate with them," said Washam. "He had a knack about him that brought the best out of people."

'His integrity was what I remember best," commented. Davis. "You could count on him, you could trust him as an agriculturist, a school man, a banker."

It was Evans who served as the first president of the Jackson County Apple Festival way back in 1937. At the age of 45, though, he had already established a reputation of a great leader around the state and was distinguished with a feature on him in The Columbus Dispatch when the festival got under way.

Now Evans did not see the festival solely as a good time for the youngsters, but a very viable way of promoting the Jackson County apple crop, which that year was predicted to be the biggest of any county in the state.

"He was an integral part of the formation of the Apple Festival," remembered Washam. "He did it to promote the business of selling apples. Little promotion had been done up to that time."

Davis also remembers the early Apple Festivals. From its second year in 1938 until the 1980s, Davis was on hand to provide much of the public address announcing and saw it grow from a financially risky venture to one of Ohio's greatest festivals.

"Leon was the driving force," Davis recalled. "They borrowed money for the first festival and it was rained out. Then they borrowed money the next year and made a go of it."

Evans was born in the Rocky Hill area of Bloomfield Township on November 5, 1892. He graduated from Jackson High School in 1912 as the president of his class, and in 1916, became a graduate of the Ohio State University, graduating from the College of Agriculture.

It was while in college he met future Ohio Governor and U.S. Senator John Bricker and developed a life-long friendship. From his friendship with Bricker and other state-wide luminaries, he had the honor of being placed in charge of the horse barn at the Ohio State Fair for many years.

His agricultural resume' read like a "Who's Who" long before the Apple Festival began. He was an instructor in 1916 and 1917 in the County Extension Schools and from 1917 through 1923, he served as the first-ever county agent for Ross County.

After his death, Evans was honored by being one of the first inductees into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame for his contributions to agriculture.

One of the personal traits that people most remember about Evans was his memory; there did not seem to be anything which he ever forgot.

Ed Clark, retired local newspaper editor, remembers Evans in part as a journalist from the many years he wrote the popular "Lest We Forget" column in the then Jackson Standard Journal and The Jackson Herald.

He reminisced in his columns about early Jackson County and his memories of it. The column reflected its writer but with Clark, it was the memory of Evans he recalls most.

"Leon was active in the Rotary and each year we had a Rural-Urban Day where each member had to bring a farmer as his guest to Rotary," remembered Clark. "No one knew who anyone was bringing until they arrived that day.

Well, Leon would sit at the head table and when the meeting started, he would get up and introduce each Rotarian and name the farmer he had with him," Clark continued. "He knew every one of them and I always thought that was pretty remarkable."

Washam recalled taking trips to Columbus and other places with Evans and said you were there before you knew it because the stories Evans told on the way would keep you spellbound and your attention span was fully occupied.

"He was a good storyteller," Davis said of Evans. "He had a good sense of humor and a tremendous memory. He kept things in detail in his mind."

Washam feels Evans acquired his memory traits as a young man working for his father, Gomer Evans.

The elder Evans at one time was the state representative in the state legislature for Jackson County, back when each county had a representative in the state legislature.

Washam said that Leon was brought on board as page while his father was in the legislature, and had to remember names and faces as a page to make sure the proper documents and messages got delivered to the proper people.

Of course, many remember Evans for his most-noted profession, that of a banker and financial advisor.

In January, 1963, Evans retired from the First National Bank of Jackson as its vice president, after having served 27 years with the institution. Washam noted Evans was brought into the bank to help with agricultural loans and other farm-related banking business. His father, Gomer Evans, had also served as a vice president of the bank.

He was also president of Jackson Production Credit Association from 1933 to 1935 and then served as its secretary from that point through 1950.

It was also through his banking career that he became highly regarded as a teacher. "People came from all over the world to Jackson to learn about agriculture and banking from him," stressed Washam.

Evans helped to create the Ohio University Banking School in 1954. Washam said he was highly respected for his outstanding organization of his class-time and that former students would call on him in future years, continuing to ask him for his advice.

In December, 1965, when Evans announced he was giving up his position as a member of the faculty at the Ohio School of Banking, the Ohio Banking Association paid tribute to the man they so highly respected.

"To those hundreds of bankers who have attended the school in the past, this announcement will bring back many memories and somewhat of a feeling of disbelief that the school can get along without the one and only Leon Evans," the tribute said.

"Hundreds of others who will not have the benefit of his teaching will have to take our word for it - Leon earned his place on the banking school faculty from its beginning in 1954 through 1965 even after his retirement as an active vice-president of the First National Bank in Jackson," it continued.

He was a pioneer in agricultural foreign relations, according to the tribute, and many delegations of bankers from other nations conferred with him in the bank in Jackson.

In 1958, he spent three months in Tunisia as a member of the special committee making a study of agricultural needs and of the farmers of that country. This led to the formation of the Agricultural Credit Bank of Tunisia the following year. Evans was also the group leader of Ohio Bankers which toured Europe and Russia in the summer of 1965.

"The Ohio Banker and the Ohio Bankers Association are proud to add their tribute to many previously given to a great gentleman - Leon M. Evans," the tribute concluded.

But how could anyone talk about Leon Evans as a teacher without mentioning he was one of the most highly regarded Sunday school teachers to ever live in Jackson County.

Washam said Evans was asked to take over a class of young adults at the Christ United Methodist Church in the early 1930s until they could find a regular teacher. That regular teacher never came.

Evans' class grew and grew and grew until it had to meet in the church's sanctuary to handle the size. The class today still bears his name. "He was quite a Sunday school teacher," remembered Washam. "He was very knowledgeable about the Bible."

When The Jackson Sun Journal reported his passing in its Monday, September 26, 1966 edition, it tried to summarize what he had meant to Jackson County.
"He was a generous, kind and open man, who gave freely of his talents to his community and his fellow man," it said.

"His wit and wisdom and wide experience led his fellow townsmen to seek his counsel on almost any affair of community importance and in private concerns as well. Truly, he was a man for all seasons - for all walks of life - all kinds of people," it noted.

Washam said he could not name a worthwhile function in Jackson County that Evans was not associated with. He said Evans also had a little date book that went "in and out of his pocket 50 times a day," which helped him to keep track of his busy schedule.

Evans was not only a great teacher in many fields, but a great speaker who could captivate any audience. Evans would speak all over the state to large groups as well as to local women's groups about banking and what they might have to do if their spouse should die.

Davis said Evans knew about everybody and was one of the most active men he ever met. "He would do anything for the betterment of the city, community or area," Davis continued. "Leon always enjoyed what he did and would look for things to do, anything for the betterment of the community," he said, adding that Evans was also a good family man.

He was the father of four children, and Washam feels he might have been most proud of the fact that each of his four children graduated from The Ohio State University.

Two of his four children survive. Mrs. Roy (Helen) Berry of near Logan taught school for many years in Hocking County. The other is his son, Dr. Merrill Evans, who like his father was successful in many endeavors.

Both Davis and Washam felt Merrill Evans was one of the finer athletes to ever graduate from Jackson High School and both acknowledged that father Leon was quite sports-minded, and rarely missed a ball game.

Merrill, who earned his doctorate from Ohio State University, followed in his father's footsteps in being involved in the agricultural industry and retired in 1988 as the executive vice president and general manager of the Farm Bureau Family of Financial Planning Services in West Des Moines, Iowa and still resides in that mid-western state.

Washam remembered that Leon Evans loved to talk at schools, and if he didn't know the child, he probably knew the parents. He also pointed out Evans' dedication to his family, "not only to his but to everyone's family."

He said Evans often talked about his involvement with the old Farmers' Institutes which used to be held. Washam said many of the good farms today were a result of the work by the farmers who attended those institutes.

"He was a great judge of people's character and saw things in people they didn't even see in themselves," continued Washam. "He helped to keep a lot of people out of trouble.

"He lived his religion and shared his wisdom, time and resources with people, and he could have cared less about what social class they might have belonged to," he noted. "He was a fair judge and always had time for everyone. He was a good man and the community was very fortunate to have him.

"Leon was one of the finest men I ever met. He rubbed off on a lot of people and positively influenced them," he stated. "It made you feel proud if Leon was proud of you."

Washam said Evans could make anyone he talked with feel important and he was also a great counselor and friend to many. "People greatly respected his moral judgment," he said.

Any community or county which has ever enjoyed any degree of success can usually owe that success to a handful of men, individuals like Leon Evans who gave of themselves and their own personal interests to always serve the interest of others.

But while there have been other men like Leon Evans, other men who truly tried to match the accomplishments of this man, others who said, "This is the way I want to live" - only a very few have ever reached those goals.

To be truthful, there will only ever be one Leon Evans - and we were the chosen people he blessed.

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Courtesy of journalist Randy Heath