WATCHING WASHINGTON JOHN K. EVANS, 1906-1990

with Patrick Crow The striking thing about Oil & Gas Journal subscribers is how loyal so many of them are to the magazine. But some of our subscribers are much more than loyal readers. We refer to them as Friends of the Journal, people who always are willing to help us gather information, to write technical articles for us, or just to chat. Often, they seem to be people who have been reading the magazine longer than many of us have been writing for it. Such a man was John K. Evans, who died

April 15, 1991

3 min read

The striking thing about Oil & Gas Journal subscribers is how loyal so many of them are to the magazine.

But some of our subscribers are much more than loyal readers. We refer to them as Friends of the Journal, people who always are willing to help us gather information, to write technical articles for us, or just to chat.

Often, they seem to be people who have been reading the magazine longer than many of us have been writing for it.

Such a man was John K. Evans, who died last month at 84.

A LONG CAREER

Evans left school in his native Wales at 14 and went to sea, emigrating to the U.S. at 17.

He was the headwaiter of a New York City restaurant when his energy and enthusiasm caught the eye of a Shell Oil Co. vice-president.

Shell recruited him in 1934, and he rose to become the company's northeastern U.S. marketing manager before World War 11. He served on the Army-Navy Petroleum Board during the war, and afterwards was a Shell executive in Puerto Rico, Brazil, and China.

He later established a Washington office for Royal Dutch/Shell Group, then set up the group's international government and public affairs program in New York.

Evans retired in 1961 but the next year organized the Independent Fuel Oil Marketers of America to get federal import controls relaxed for small oil terminal operators. Succeeding, he disbanded the group in 1966.

Due to the circumstances of his early life, Evans had a soft spot in his heart for projects benefiting education and orphans.

In 1968 he was invited to Korea to accept an honorary citizenship for his work in raising funds for orphans there.

And since he would be stopping over in Hawaii, Interior Sec. Stewart Udall asked Evans to visit Gov. John Burns.

Burns wanted another refinery built in Hawaii and pressed Evans to undertake the project. After considerable difficulty, Evans and others did build the Hawaiian Independent Refinery. Evans' investment provided him the financial resources to match his philanthropic bent.

Later, Evans was an oil trader and tried-but failed-to put deals together to build refineries at Machiasport, Me., and Portsmouth, Va.

THE PARADOX

Evans was a paradox. Easygoing on the outside, he relished challenges. Extremely intolerant on subjects such as environmentalism, he freely gave time and money to hundreds of causes. A determined maverick, he was intensely loyal to his friends and adopted country.

Evans wasn't only a Friend of the Journal. Nearly 200 of his Washington friends crowded a recent memorial service for Jack Evans at the National Press Club.

And at his behest, on June 12 a few of his oldest friends will lead a flamboyant Dixieland band down the streets of Evans' home town in Wales. Just his way of saying goodbye.