Gordon (“Bill”) Evans, 83, of Guilford, died peacefully on Oct. 17. He was the husband of Peggy Lee Cavalieri Evans Mr. Evans was born in Waterbury on April 10, 1929, son of the late Harriet Baldwin Evans and Josiah Evans. He had been a resident of Guilford since 1962 and lived in Connecticut nearly his entire life, having spent four years in Newport, Rhode Island, and Arlington, Virginia, while serving in the U.S. Navy.

Bill graduated cum laude from Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and went on to receive degrees from MIT (1950), and Cornell Law School, Doctor of Jurisprudence (1954).

After graduating from Cornell Law School and passing the Connecticut and New York bar examinations, he worked briefly as assistant to the vice president of Norden Laboratories, of White Plains, New York, and Milford, where he was part of a specialized engineering team schooled by Norden to work on design and operation of Norden’s ANASB –1 Bomb Director System, to replace the Norden Bomb Sight used by the Allies during World War II. He later applied for and was accepted along with nine other lawyers to a new legal specialist program being developed by the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Evans completed Officer Candidate School in Newport and worked for three years as a commissioned (Lieutenant Junior Grade and Lieutenant) Legal Specialist to the Office of the Navy Judge Advocate General at the Pentagon.  While in Washington, he also attended Georgetown University School of Law and received a master’s degree in tax law (1957).

While serving in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Evans worked part time and evenings for Andrew Haley, president of the International Astronautical Federation, general counsel of The American Rocket Society, and a name partner in the firm of Haley, Doty and Wollenberg, assisting Mr. Haley in writing the first published book on the laws of outer space. 

Mr. Evans resigned from the U.S. Navy in 1957 and moved with his first wife and their first child to the Mount Carmel section of Hamden, and founded, with Paul Adams, the then dean of the Yale Law School, and Robert Blanchette, a recent graduate of the school, the law firm of Adams, Blanchette and Evans. In 1962, he founded and was a name partner in the New Haven and Madison law firm of DiSesa and Evans.  In 1972, he founded and was principal of the New Haven law firm, Gordon Alan Evans and Associates, PC.

Mr. Evans participated in numerous religious, charitable, and civic activities, including serving as deacon of the Spring Glen Congregational Church, lay moderator of the Guilford Congregational Church, board member of the Guilford Community Fund, board member and chairman of the Guilford Board of Education, and member of the Guilford Charter Revision Commission. He also volunteered and served on boards of the ABC program, Guilford Recycling, Inc, the Preservation Alliance, the Peabody Museum, and the VNA.  For several years he volunteered as a radio news reader for CRIS, a state-wide charity providing radio broadcasts of news and other information to listeners unable to read because of vision or other impairment. 

Mr. Evans was a member of the Sachem’s Head Yacht Club for nearly 50 years, and served as commodore and director, past secretary, and member of the Executive Committee.  He also served as director, vice president, and secretary of the Sachem’s Head Corporation.  He was a former member of the Quinnipiac Club in New Haven and a former member and board member of the New Haven Lawn Club. 

For most of his adult life, Mr. Evans was an avid skier, a sailor, tennis player, and golfer. He had an amazing wit, sharp mind, and keen sense of humor. “Papa Bill”, as he was known by his grandchildren, was also a gifted story teller. He certainly passed on his love of the written word and will be missed terribly.

Besides his wife Peggy, he is survived by his first wife Carolie Evans, mother of this three surviving children, Nancy Evans Wolff and her husband Bill of Bridgewater, Vermont, Sarah (Sally) Evans Harold (former wife of William Harold) of Fairfield, and Gordon Alan Evans, Jr. and Maria Pinheiro of North Haven; his stepson, Gerald Jay Cavalieri, Jr. and wife Colleen of Coronado, California; and seven grandchildren, Jessica Keating, Katie Bryant, Peter and Andrew Wolff, and Annie, Lucia, and Nina Harold; and a great-grandchild, Alma Keating. He is also survived by his sister Natalie Daley; two step-grandchildren, Alexa and Troy Cavalieri; and his extended family, including adoring nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother Roger and his sister Dorothy.

Services will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 11 a.m., at the First Congregational Church, 122 Broad St., Guilford.  The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Guilford Land Trust or to a charity of donor’s choice.  The Guilford Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.  To share a memory or leave a message of condolence for the family, please visit: www.GuilfordFuneralHome.com.