Tipping the bright red hat to Ed Evans

Elia Powers

Ed Evans was a man who wore many hats.

He installed telephone lines, sold advertisements, sold real

estate, built airplanes, flew those planes and acted in plays.

Still, one hat stood out from the rest.

Evans was best known for sporting a spotless, straight-billed, red

cap with “USMC” written above a Marine Corps insignia.

“He wore it wherever he went,” said Geraldine Evans, Ed’s wife of

32 years. “Everything, for him, was about the Marines.”

A longtime Costa Mesa resident, Evans died March 19 of natural

causes. He was 84.

Born in Los Angeles, Evans married his first wife, Betty Twaddell,

after graduating high school. She had been his high school

sweetheart.

He enlisted in the Marines in 1942, joining many of his friends

from home.

“It became a calling for him,” said his daughter, Catherine

Supple.

Evans was put in charge of transportation. He drove a Jeep through

places like Guam and Iwo Jima, often carrying military officers on

board. He was in close contact with the Navajo code talkers who

manned the Jeep radios and spoke in their native language so the

Japanese couldn’t intercept classified conversations.

Supple said Evans enjoyed telling the family stories about the

Jeep rides. And he would regularly go to Navajo code talkers reunions

held at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Evans would wear his red hat and hobnob with members of the Navajo

tribe and former Marines.

He would tell stories of Marine training in New Zealand and inject

his patented humor into the tale.

“We were the hottest ticket in town,” Supple said her father would

tell people about the Marines. “He was quite the ladies man, to be

honest.”

Evans received an honorable discharge in 1945, and he returned to

California to work in the oil fields of Bakersfield.

He started his post-World War II career as a line man for Pacific

Bell.

He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1950s and sold advertisements

for the Yellow Pages.

“He was a natural salesman,” Supple said. “He could sell snow in

Alaska.”

Using veteran’s assistance money, Evans bought a house in

Fullerton and rode in his Plymouth Coupe or Volkswagen Beetle to work

in Los Angeles.

But he wanted to move closer to the beach and keep his life

contained to Orange County, so he took a job selling real estate in

Newport Beach and moved to Costa Mesa.

Evans was a regular on stage at the Costa Mesa Community

Playhouse, where he had leading roles in local productions. Geraldine

Evans said her husband’s favorite role was “Gaston” in the play

“Gigi.”

After he and his first wife divorced, Ed married Geraldine in

1973. The two enjoyed sailing up the coast in a 35-foot boat and

traveling throughout Europe.

In Orange County, Evans took flying classes and learned to

construct home-built airplanes that he flew to Corona to visit

friends.

And he always enjoyed going to Blackie’s By The Sea in Newport

Beach, where he donned his red hat and chatted with Marine buddies.

“He loved to share stories, and that was a great place for him to

be,” Supple said.