‘He just impacted everybody.’ Tacoma visionary and civic leader Bill Evans dies at 83
Bill Evans, the man who largely transformed Tacoma’s Proctor District into what it is today and left his mark on the city at large, has died.
The former Tacoma City Council member, social activist and businessman succumbed Sunday from cancer at his residence in the Proctor District, according to his family. He was 83.
Evans’ daughter, Deirdre Evans, said she’s heard from dozens of people in the last few days who he influenced over the years, from neighbors to people who worked in his retail shops.
“He just impacted everybody,” Deirdre Evans said. “And as a dad, he was great.”
Seattle to Peru
William G. Evans was born Aug. 13, 1940, in Hastings, Minnesota to Orrin and Florence Evans. During World War II, Evans’ family moved to Seattle where his father owned a shipyard on Lake Union and his mother ran retail businesses after working in a war-time torpedo plant.
Evans attended Seattle Preparatory School and went to college in Boston.
A desire to help people in the rural communities of Peru’s highlands took him to that South American nation for several years and included a stint as director of the North American Cultural Institute in Cusco. It was back in the United State where he met Ann Murray, a native of Ireland. After Evans returned to Peru, he convinced Murray to teach English there.
They married on Feb. 14, 1973, in Peru.
“She described it the other day,” Deirdre said. “They were married in their apartment and she was wearing a poncho and jeans.”
Seattle to Tacoma
After returning to Seattle, the couple opened a stand at the Pike Place Market where they sold international folk art, according to their son, Matt Evans. The following year, they opened Inca Land in Old City Hall in Tacoma. In 1978, they opened Pacific Northwest Shop in the historical building.
In 1981, Evans moved Pacific Northwest Shop to its present location at North Proctor and North 27th streets. An outpost of the store anchored the Washington State pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver, B.C., Matt Evans said. They briefly ran a similar store at the Washington State History Museum.
Evans and his wife tried various businesses over the decades, including opening the Old House Cafe on North Proctor Street where Crudo and Cutto is today. Evans’ granddaughter, Anya Evans-Findt, owns Proctor Mercantile, next to Pacific Northwest Shop. It began in the Old House Cafe building.
In 2018, Matt Evans and his husband Cédric Poisson took over as owners of Pacific Northwest Shop.
Bill and Ann Evans raised Matt, Deirdre and their youngest son, Paul, in a 1902 Victorian home in Old Town, now owned by Deirdre.
City Council
“He was a very reluctant candidate,” said former Tacoma mayor and City Council member Bill Baarsma. It was Baarsma and his wife, Carol, who persuaded Evans to run for Baarsma’s seat on the council in 1999.
“He wasn’t keen on the zero-sum nature of politics,” Baarsma said. “That wasn’t in his nature. And so we took a lot of time trying to convince him that he would be a great addition to the council.”
Evans ran against Mike Lonergan, who is now the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer. Longergan would go on to eventually join the council. Baarsma joined Evans on the dais when he successfully ran for mayor in 2001.
“He was a charming guy,” Baarsma said Wednesday. “He was not braggadocio, very quiet, very respectful.”
Evans served on the council from 2000-2008. He served as deputy mayor in 2004.
“He answered every citizen’s email,” Deirdre Evans said.
Parks promoter
Evans was a driver behind what are now two of Tacoma’s smaller but distinctive parks: Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park near Old Town and Thea’s Park on the Thea Foss Waterway.
Thea’s Park, with its globe, plaza, flag and peace pole, was a reaction to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. East Coast on Sept. 11, 2001, Baarsma said.
“He got on the phone and I think almost single-handedly raised money,” Baarsma said. “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars to make that come to pass. That was certainly a crowning achievement on his behalf.”
Along with Baarsma and others, Evans worked to make the Reconciliation Park a reality to address the expulsion of Tacoma’s Chinese community in 1885. Today, it’s an oasis of water, plants and authentic Chinese architecture nestled between Tacoma’s busy railroad lines, streets and waterways.
Evans was a founding member of Tacoma Sister Cities and served on the board of Sister Cities International.
David Brame shootings
Evans’ time on the council included the dark days following the murder-suicide of Tacoma Police Chief David Brame and his wife Crystal Judson. The police chief fatally shot Judson in a Gig Harbor shopping center parking lot on April 26, 2003, in front of their two children. He then fatally shot himself. The shootings and subsequent revelations thrust Tacoma into an intense negative national spotlight.
Evans, Baarsma and Lonergan pushed for a independent investigation of the events leading up to the shooting.
“The three of us were kind of leading that effort,” Baarsma said.
Evans and a narrow majority voted to oust city manager Ray Corpuz a few months later when allegations against Corpuz concerning Brame’s hiring and behavior surfaced. Corpuz later admitted that city employees had warned him about Brame’s erratic behavior leading up to the shooting and the chief’s death threats against his wife while the couple were going through a bitter divorce.
Proctor Development
“They were in love with Tacoma and, in particular, the Proctor District,” Matt Evans said of his parents. “They opened a handful of businesses that were here in Proctor over the years.”
“Bill always promoted the district as Tacoma’s historic Proctor District,” said Evan’s business partner and close friend Erling Kuester.
In 1993, Evans approached Kuester, a real estate developer, with the idea to buy and restore the Bijou theater, less than a block away from Evans’ store. It was Evans’ idea to return the theater’s original name, The Blue Mouse, and its 1923 appearance.
The pair eventually convinced 17 other people, including glass artist Dale Chihuly, to put up $5,000 or $10,000 each. This weekend, The Blue Mouse celebrates its 100th anniversary with a variety of programming.
Kuester said Evans, despite their 20-year age difference, was much more than a business partner.
“He was a mentor and a friend,” Kuester said. “And I loved him.”
Apartments
Evans and Kuester brought a farmers market to Proctor in 1994. It appeared in various locations before finally settling in to its long-time space on North 27th Street next to Evans’ shop.
Evans and Kuester became business partners, bonded by their shared vision in what the Proctor District could become. Through the years, they bought parcels of land — parking lots, business buildings beyond their prime, old houses — with the dream of turning them into denser housing, Kuester said.
Eventually, and in partnership with other developers, they built the six-story $32 million Proctor Station apartments at North Proctor and North 28th streets and later Madison 25 at North Proctor and North 25th streets.
Kuester said the pair were always upfront with owners as they acquired property for the two buildings.
“Bill was the visionary, and people respected Bill,” Kuester said.
Evans and Kuester thought Proctor could be a more vibrant neighborhood with more retail and restaurants within walking distance. Their buildings today have those businesses on their street-level floors.
The new apartment buildings were controversial at the time, with locals complaining they would ruin the character of the neighborhood.
“One lady did get very angry with me on Saturday,” Evans told The News Tribune in 2016. “She said she does not want change. She’s happy with Proctor the way it is.”
Evans and his wife moved into Proctor Station.
“I wake up in the morning and look at Ann and say, ‘Well, it’s time to check out of this luxury hotel,’” Evans said.
Social activism
Evans became a leader in the 1980s Sanctuary Movement, which brought Central American refugees fleeing civil conflicts to the United States. Evans, said his daughter, brought one of the first families to Washington. The Evans family’s parish, St. Leo, became a temporary home for refugees in Tacoma.
“I was at a friend’s house and I saw him on the news,” Deirdre Evans said of her father during that time. “I hadn’t seen him in weeks. We didn’t know where he was. He had driven down to California, and he got this family and he drove them back up to Washington.”
Evans slept in the parish at night to make sure the family wouldn’t be arrested. Evans’ ability to speak fluent Spanish helped him connect with refugees, Deirdre Evans said. Some called him Guillermo, Spanish for William.
“That husband and wife are still in Tacoma,” Deirdre Evans said. “Their four children still live in Tacoma. Their grandchildren live in Tacoma.”
Evans’ recent activism included showing up at Black Lives Matter rallies, Deirdre Evans said.
“They would, even in recent years, go down and protest the (Northwest ICE Processing Center),” Matt Evans said. “Back in the day, I remember, we were out on train tracks protesting nuclear weapons.”
Legacy
“It was a perfect Northwest day,” Deirdre Evans said of the day her father died. “He loved Washington. Fall colors outside. He had a quilt his sister had made laid over him. No pain. It was good.”
Evans’ love for the world and the people in it stayed with him until the end, she said.
“I was watching the travel shows with him last week, and he goes, ‘Oh, all the places I’ll never go’, and I started laughing. ‘You’ve been to every single one of these (countries) but Turkey. You went everywhere.’“
Evans took his family on multi-week trips to southeast Asia, Australia and other parts of the world.
“He was fearless,” she said. “Especially when it came to travel. He always said the best way to learn about the world is to go out there and see it.”
In addition to his wife and children, Evans is survived by a sister, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren and their families.
Services for Evans will be held at 11 a.m. on Nov. 18 at St. Leo Church with a reception to follow.
This story was originally published November 9, 2023 at 2:22 PM.
