Albert Edwin Evans, Jr. April 1930 – September 21, 2021

ALBERT EDWIN EVANS, JR. April 1930 – September 21, 2021

Albert (Al) Edwin Evans, Jr. of Sugar Land, TX passed away on September 21, 2021 at the age of 91.

Al was born in April 1930 to Gerardine Ogilby and Albert Edwin Evans.

He leaves behind his children Keith Evans, Andrea (Joseph) Beck and Hilary Evans; Grandson Corbin (Alisha) Smith, Shannon (Erik) Johnson, Alexis Evans, Shelby Evans and Edward (Johana) Beck and two great-grandchildren, Phalen Smith and Eliana Beck.

He was preceded by his 56-year-old wife Patricia Flynn Evans and daughter Leslie Evans Smith in death.

Born in Tarrytown, NY, a small town 25 miles north of Manhattan, Al attended Briarcliff Manor, NY high school and graduated from Mt. Herman Preparatory School in Massachusetts before going to Yale University. He joined the ROTC at Yale, and after graduating in 1952, he joined the Air Force and was sent to Ohio State University to study nuclear physics. There he did his master’s degree in physics and met his wife Patricia Flynn.

They were married on May 12, 1956. In 1957, Al accepted a position in Baltimore, MD, with the Lockheed Martin Nuclear Division, where he did experimental work on reactors. Back then, reactors were developed as small power plants for remote military bases. He stayed there for a year and then worked as an experimental physicist at the Naval Ordinance Laboratory in Silver Spring, MD. There he spent ten years designing, engineering and operating a Van de Graaff Accelerator, a high voltage generator. The research became the basis for his Ph.D. in nuclear physics, which he received from the University of Maryland in 1965.

In May 1967 the family moved to Los Alamos, NM, where they lived and raised their children for 19 years. During his stay in Los Alamos, Al worked for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he did research on the development of nuclear instruments, nuclear safety precautions and reactor operations. He stayed there until 1986 when they returned to the East Coast to live in Gaithersburg, MD.

Until his retirement in 2000, Al worked for the Department of Energy, which mainly focused on radiological and nuclear safety.

In total, he worked as a nuclear physicist for almost 50 years. His research and scientific publications were used by his colleagues around the world and made a significant contribution to the safety of nuclear energy.

After his retirement, Al and Pat moved to Sugar Land, TX to be closer to their family. Al also served in the Air Force Reserve and retired from the Air Force as a major.

Al was an Eagle Scout and remained associated with the Boy Scouts of America his entire life. The National Court of Honor awarded Al the Silver Beaver Award in recognition of his exceptional character and service to scouting and his influence on the lives of young people.

In his late teens, he served as a volunteer firefighter at Briarcliff Manor, NY. Al was also a volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol while in Los Alamos. He served as Los Alamos County’s Civil Defense Coordinator for over 15 years and participated in countless search and rescue missions to find lost hikers, campers, and visitors in northern New Mexico. He was a member of the South Texas Chapter of the Health Physics Society and chaired the Science Teacher Workshop Committee, helping to pass on his lifelong knowledge to science teachers in South Texas.

Al was a member of the Health Physics Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Physical Society, Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Honor Society), and Sigma Pi Sigma (an American honor society for physics).

He loved swimming, walking and bird watching, tending his flowers, solving puzzles, listening to music and reading. Dogs were constant companions in the Evans household, especially cocker spaniels. Al was also active in the Episcopal Church wherever he lived. Al loved his family and served his community.

Details of a memorial service will be announced at a later date. Instead of flowers, the family asks for gifts in memory of Al to the Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org) or Boy Scouts of America (https://donations.scouting.org).