MR. GRIFFITH OWEN EVANS.
FAITHFUL CHURCH JANITOR AND BRIDGETENDER OFF TO EUROPE.
After having worked hard in this country twenty five years, G. O. Evans, janitor of the Prospect Street Presbyterian church will sail on the steamship Campania tomorrow morning to spend six weeks in Wales, the land of his birth, where three of his brothers and a sister reside. He will make his headquarters at Conway, in North Wales, the guest of his brother, Rev. D. Tecwyn Evans, B.A. a distinguished clergyman who resides there.Mr. Evans has been janitor of the Prospect Street church about thirteen years and by his faithfulness and courtesy has always been held in high esteem by the congregation.
Last Sunday morning after the service, Mr. Evans was called into the Sunday school room, where he was publicly complimented for his long service and received many wishes for a pleasant journey.
During the informal reception Mrs. D. H. Scranton, on behalf of the women of the congregation, presented to Mr. Evans a box containing a stack of $10 gold pieces and a sealed package not to be opened until he was on the high sea.
John A. Campbell, for the men, concluded his address by handling to Mr. Evans three checks aggregating an amount that would carry him over the ocean and home again.
Besdides being janitor of the church Mr. Evans for a dozen years has been the tender of the canal feeder bridge at Prospect street, and that he has well performed his work in evidenced by the fact that Superintendent Dunn, of the canal company, has given him six years leave of absence and provided a substitute for him.
Before taking up his present work Mr. Evans was an attendant six years at the state hospital in this city, and in that Institution he established a splendid record.
That the vacation extended to Mr. Evans was well merited no one who knows him will deny. His duties are many, but he slights non of them. He keeps the church as clean as wax and the lawns and hedges surrounding it are always in fine shape. In the winter he has the snow removed from the long sidewalks before most other persons are awake. When a teacher is absent from Sunday school Mr. Evans is always ready to take his place.
Although he works about the church from shortly after sunrise until late at night, he never keeps the boatmen waiting when they blow their horn after he has gone to bed. No matter how tired he may be, or how late it is, a couple of "toots" from a boat horn is almost sound from a whistle and the bridge is being turned by its faithful guardian, who sleeps on the ground floor of his home in garments suitable for attending to his duty without delay.
State Gazette Trenton New Jersey.
GRIFFITH O. EVANS DIES AT AGE 94.
Griffith O. Evans, 94, of 452 West State Street, who retired in 1944 after 45 years as superintendent of buildings and grounds of Prospect Street Presbyterian Church, died laste night in McKinley Hospital after months illness.A native of Wales, he came to this country in 1887 to work on a farm in Utica, N. Y. Subsequently he worked at the New Jersey State Hospital and for a time operated a barber shop in Trenton.
During his years with Prospect Street Presbyterian Church, he served as a Sunday school teacher and was a member of the Session and Board of Deacons.
He was a member and former chaplain of Trenton Lodge 5, F and AM; and for 60 years was a member of Fred D. Stuart Lodge of Odd Fellows. He also was a Knight Templar and member of Trenton Shrine.
During his youth, Mr Evans gained a reputation as a tenor and during his life took great interest in local musical events. He likewise was interested in travel, having returned several times to his native Wales as well as visiting South America.
Husband of the late Melvina H. Dunphy Evans, he is survived by three sons, Dewi T. of Trenton, Owen L. of Morrisville and John W. of Cranbury; a daughter, Mrs Kenneth J. Dawes of Lawrenceville; eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Services will be held Thursday at 11 am in Prospect Street Church with the Rev. G. Douglas Davies officiating. Internment will be in Ewing Church Cemetery. Friends may call Wednesday evening at Ivins and Taylor, 77 Prospect Street, where Masonic serviced will be held at 8 pm.