Stories about South Jerseyans and how they lived

Larue Evans

Walter L. Evans

Everyone thought she would go first.

Larue Evans was already in ill health when her husband Walter died. No one expected she would be a widow. 

“I didn’t think they could live without each other,” said Ruth Rogers, a friend of the couple.

And they didn’t – but for three days. Larue died 72 hours after Walt passed away last month at 86; she died at 83.

If you talk to people in Moorestown, they will tell you they never saw Larue without Walt, Walt without Larue. And as devoted as they were to each other, the couple was equally devoted to the place where they moved after marrying in 1961. 

They met while Walt was serving in the Navy in Texas. He insisted they marry there, so the former Larue Whitfield would already be his bride if he was stationed away from her. 

“He wouldn’t come home until they got married,” Rogers noted.   

Home was Moorestown, where Larue embraced her husband’s Quaker values and they dove into community service. They both belonged to the Moorestown Monthly Meeting. Walt answered calls day and night as a volunteer firefighter. Larue was a devoted teacher at Moorestown Friends and eventually became director at its Lower School. He was named Moorestown’s citizen of the year in 1996.

Walt began his 29-year banking career at Burlington County Trust Company, where he started as a teller, according to Rogers, who first met him there as a co-worker of her father and brother. Larue took 12 years of night classes while raising their two children to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.

Each of them also impacted others.

Daniel Begg of Moorestown Monthly Meeting knew Larue as Mrs. Evans, the fourth-grade teacher who kept a guinea pig and its offspring by the window of her classroom. She eventually told Begg he could take the animals home.

“She would always ask how they were doing,” he recalled. “I remember her being very jovial, charismatic and extremely generous.” 

After entering real estate later in life, Walt was Rogers’ agent when she sold her longtime Moorestown home and bought a smaller place. During the move, she told Walt she was frantic about misplacing a treasured photograph. On his next visit, he brought her a photo of her former home to replace it.

“Whenever I look at that picture,” Rogers muses, “I think of Walt.”

The Evanses were also avid golfers. To friends in her Hit or Miss monthly golf club, including Rogers, Larue could be a real riot – sometimes at the expense of the game’s decorum. Walt played courses around the world. 

Fittingly, at a memorial for the couple at the Moorestown Monthly Meeting, two firemen stood watch by the urns containing their remains. There was a slight delay at the previous evening’s visitation, Rogers recalled, because the men were called to a fire. 

The irony of that would have pleased Walt. Once the firemen did arrive, Rogers marveled at the precision she said reminded her of the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery.

“They didn’t just walk in,” she remembered, “they marched in.”

They marched for Walt, who spent so much time fighting fires, one of the few things he did without Larue in a life where they were hardly apart  – except for those three days. 

As Rogers says, “You couldn’t have one without the other.”

Sources: Lewis Funeral Home, Legacy.com

Inside the obits   

Victoria Tatem was known as “Queen Vic,” a product of Camden who died at 74. She is described in her obituary as a “loving, loyal, intelligent and spirited soul” who earned a certification in automotive mechanics and spent more than 20 years as a clerk at the Camden County Board of Education. She also worked for the former Camden River Sharks, had two children and treated a close family member like a daughter, her obituary adds. It also describes Victoria’s faith – practiced at St. Matthew’s Baptist Church in Williamstown – as the center of her life, a life where the Bible was never far from her side. (Sources: The Sun, Circle of Life Funeral Home)

Everyone knew Olga’s Diner, the iconic spot on the former Marlton Circle for nearly 50 years. Steven J. Stavros – who died July 5 at 60 – was there for much of that, and not just as part of the ownership. To the contrary, the owner’s son worked as hard as anyone else, pouring “his heart into every aspect of the establishment,” his obituary notes. Outside of work, the Bishop Eustace graduate had interests that ranged from Formula 1 racing to photography, practiced with what was described as an “exceptional eye.” Stavros’ obit also describes him as an avid scuba diver and skydiver, passions that took him “to the depths of the ocean and the heights of the sky.” (Sources Bradley Funeral Home, Legacy.com) 

Death does not take a holiday. South Jerseyans who passed away on July 4 include Gloucester County resident Carmen M. Zayas, who was 63 and had a passion, her obituary notes, for elephants, a good book, Elvis and the daily ritual of cleaning her home: The result was usually spotless. 

Margaret “Marge” Zuccarelli was known to her family as someone with a healthy sense of humor who was honest, loyal and non-judgmental. In a memorial tribute, one person described the 86-year-old Camden County resident as “a great lady and mother and wonderful Facebook friend.” On that site is a post from Title Town – a nickname for Gloucester City that reflects its successful sports history – that notes the passing of a “wonderful woman” who was like a grandmother to many Lions’ student athletes.   

People who knew Nikolas Robert Simone had pet names for the 39-year old Williamstown resident, Pickle, Ears and Weasel among them. He was described as a loving son and the best brother, as well as a devoted dad to his dog, Nala, who it is said will be lost without him. He often ran late, his obituary says, because he was the person everyone called for help – from fixing a car to building a dock. 

(Sources: Legacy.com. Farnelli Funeral Home, Bell-Hennessy Funeral Home, Perinchief Chapels – Mount Holly, McCann-Healey Funeral Home, Echovita.com) 

The Good Life appears twice a month. To suggest someone who recently passed away for a tribute, email Christina Mitchell at cmitchell@donnelly.media. Please describe in a few words something about the person’s life.