Born
Epps, Alabama.
Mr. Evans was born in Epps, Alabama and was admitted to the Bar in 1941. He attended Vanderbilt University for two years and in 1939 he graduated from the United States Military Academy. At that time, by his own request, he was placed in reserve status, and attended Harvard Law School for two years before he was recalled in 1941 to active duty with the Air Corps. Serving as a squadron commander in Europe, he was shot down and became a prisoner of war in February, 1944 (he retired as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve). After the war, he returned to Harvard Law School and was awarded his LL.B. Degree in 1946. Having already been awarded his license to practice law in Tennessee in 1941, he commenced active practice in 1946. With the exception of three years during which he served as the Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Taxation, he continued to practice law until shortly before his death in 2009. In later years, his public service has included serving as Chairman of the Davidson County Election Commission and as Senior Warden of St. George’s Episcopal Church. He was a member of the Nashville, Tennessee and American Bar Associations, the Tennessee Bar Foundation, and the American Law Institute. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1950. His practice included cases in both Alabama and Kentucky’s highest courts as well as the Tennessee Supreme Court. Collateral to his practice, he organized and served as the President of a newly-formed coal mining operation in Kentucky and also as President of an over-the-road common carrier operating extensively in the Mid-South area. As counsel, he also organized the original Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation, and served as a member of its Board of Directors