Ellis William Evans

Ellis William Evans of Steelville, Missouri passed away Sunday, June 9, 2019 at Steelville Senior Living  Center at the age of 97 years, 6 months and 30 days. He was born at Dillard, Missouri on November 10, 1921 to Gerome Franklin Evans and Katherine Obermark Evans. On January 11, 1947 in Potosi, Missouri he was united in marriage to Ardell Worley.

Ellis served honorably from 1942 to 1945 in the U.S. Army in the Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe Campaigns receiving a Purple Heart. He worked in St. Louis for several years in construction, eventually moving back to the Crawford County area to start a business of having over 40,000 laying hens.  He attended Shoal Creek Church years ago. Ellis enjoyed repairing old clocks from the area and from other countries. He also was a master craftsman working on violins and guitars and could spend many hours fishing for trout.

He was preceded in death by his parents; one daughter, Barbara Wagner; two brothers, Leeman (Bernice) Evans and Eldon (Della Mae) Evans; two sisters, Lila Mae (Tom) Hunter and Lucille Hill; brothers and sisters-in-law; Orville Pratt, Cledes (Freda) Worley, Argie (Zeke) Volner, Clifton Worley, Rosalie (Norman) Hammonds, Mary Belle (Halic) Chandler, Homer (Helen) Worley and Joe Worley.

He will be sadly missed by his wife of seventy-two years, Ardell Evans; three sons, William "Bill" Gary (Peggy) Evans of Springfield, IL, Marion "Frank" Franklin (Connie) Evans of St. Louis, MO and Steven Clay (Brenda) Evans of Harrison, AR;  eight grandchildren; Jeff, Amy, Chad, Joshua, Grant, Gabriel, Zachary and Jeff; nineteen great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; two sisters, Ileen Pratt of Springfield, MO and Erma Lee (Leon) Sellers of Arnold, MO; sisters-in-law, Ruby (Jim) Lowery of Arnold, MO and Linda Worley of Hillsboro, MO; nieces, nephews; other relatives; and friends.

The Family received friends from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, 2019 at the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home in Steelville, MO.

Funeral services were held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, June 14, 2019 at the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home in Steelville, MO with Rev. Tracey White officiating. Special music of "Amazing Grace", "Teardrop Waltz" and "What a Friend" was played by Kathy Summers on fiddle. Other music of "He Walked on Water" was sung by Josh Evans and "Too Much to Gain to Lose" was sung by Larry and Geraldine Sherrill.

Committal prayer and interment with Full Military Honors by the United States Army were in the Shoal Creek Cemetery, Steelville, MO.

Honored to be casket bearers were Jeff Evans, Jeff Wagner, Chad Evans, Joshua Evans, Grant Evans, Gabriel Evans and Zachary Evans.

The Family was served by the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home of Steelville, MO.

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