Daniel J. Evans - Early Life

Early Life

Evans was born in Seattle, Washington (where he lives as of 2007), descended from a family that had first arrived in the Washington Territory in 1859; his grandfather had served in one of Washington's first state senates. He grew up in the Laurelhurst neighborhood and attended Roosevelt High School.

As a young man, Evans was an Eagle Scout, and served as a staff member and Hike Master at Camp Parsons, a well known Boy Scout camp in Washington State. As an adult, he was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

After high school, he served in the United States Navy 1943–1946. He first entered the V-12 Navy College Training Program and was stationed at the University of Washington (UW), but was transferred eight months later to an ROTC program at University of California, Berkeley. He did not see combat; he was deployed to the Pacific shortly after the end of World War II as a commissioned ensign on a succession of aircraft carriers, before returning to UW in 1946.

Evans graduated from the UW with degrees in civil engineering (BS, 1948, MS, 1949); the UW later (in 2007) gave him the distinction of Alumnus Summa Laude Dignitatus, the highest distinction the university confers on its graduates. He returned to the United States Navy (1951–1953) before working as a structural engineer (1953–1956); in the latter capacity, he helped draw up the plans for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.