Burke Evans will be honored as the special recipient of the 18th annual Leonora Kempner Thompson Community Enrichment Award May 29.
The event begins at 7 p.m. and will include a cocktail reception, dinner and an award presentation at The Grand 1894 Opera House, 2020 Postoffice St.
This event is open to the public. Dress is business attire.
To request an invitation, purchase tickets or for information, call The Grand at 409-765-1894 or 800-821-1894.
Ernest Burke Evans was born in Jewett, the youngest of six children. He spent his childhood in Waxahachie, graduating as salutatorian of his class.
He received a two-year scholarship to Baylor University and, during his time there, worked as an orderly at a hospital.
At the end of the two years, he moved to Galveston to work as a clerk-typist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Following active military service, Evans remained in the army reserve and completed medical school at Stanford University and then joined Baylor Medical School in Houston. He spent a six-month residency at St. Mary’s Hospital in Galveston.
While completing his residency in Oakland, Calif., he received an invitation from Dr. G.W.N. Eggers to return to Galveston for an orthopedic residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Evans began his career at the medical branch in 1953 and served as chief of orthopedics from 1965-92. During his early years at UTMB, Dr. Truman Blocker called him to the burn unit to treat a girl with a broken leg.
Intrigued by the differences in patients with broken bones who had not suffered burns, Evans began documenting the muscular-skeletal changes and continued to work with burns patients – and for a long time, was the only orthopedist doing so. His findings have been printed in numerous medical journals and scientific publications.
Evans also is known for his love of the arts and historical preservation. In the early 1970s, he was president of the Galveston Historical Foundation, and in 2007, Evans received the Foundation’s Spirit of Galveston Award for his long-standing commitment to its mission and spirit.
