January 15, 2003

International intrigue

Gordon and Barbara Evans travel 25 years in U.S. Foreign Service

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       May you live in interesting times.
      Barbara and Gordon Evans of Interlochen have taken that Chinese proverb one step further: may you create interesting times.
      Adventurers with a capital A, the Evans are world travelers who have served 25 years in the State Department's Foreign Service. They taught, lived and raised a family in places such as Pakistan, Ghana, India and the Ivory Coast. After retiring, Gordon also served as president of the International House in New York City for 11 years. This high-profile position required extensive travel and fundraising, asking the world's elite and powerful for money for this international home for graduate students.
      Now settled in Interlochen, running a bed and breakfast, the Evans continue to embrace life and live it to the fullest. They completed an eight-month, 4,000-mile journey on their boat from New York to Interlochen just after retirement in 1993, relishing the challenges of the open sea and the inland rivers.
      Their myriad guests come from around the globe and the Evans relish in extending their hospitality. They have woven their past lives into their present one, filling their home with samples of art, culture and artifacts from their own journeys. This includes West African masks, pottery and sculpture, works from the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan, frescos from 800 A.D. and a crŠche blessed by a pope.
      But to the Evans, people are people and they enjoy them all.
      "Right now we have a retired dairy farmer, a bank teller and an artist staying here," Gordon Evans said. "I think one of the many strengths of our society is that we don't have a strong social class system; you see the United Kingdom, France or Germany, and immediately sense - even though they don't publicize it - that there's a class structure."
      "I think this is one of the great strengths of America and we see that a lot with the bed and breakfast," Evans noted.
      The Evans met in the mid 1950s at Antioch College. Gordon headed to Oslo, Norway, on a Fullbright Scholarship, where they later married in 1955.
      After returning to the United States, Gordon completed a master's degree in public administration in California. The State Department soon came knocking, recruiting the couple for an overseas assignment.
      Even though Gordon was an engineer by training, the government was intrigued by his studies and experience in public administration, skills needed in developing countries.
      "They recruited us and got two for the price of one," recalled Barbara Evans, who has taught in the United States, Ghana and Pakistan. "We thought it would be fun to try for two years and ended up retiring 25 years later."
      While overseas, the Evans and their two children immersed themselves in the local culture. They eschewed compound living and instead lived among the people of the country. Wherever they went, they took their music with them, often paying extra freight for Barbara's piano.
      "What we came to believe is that American is beloved," said Barbara, whose connection to Interlochen dates to her studying at the Academy as a youth. "This is an experiment here and this experiment works. Many countries where we were there weren't too many liberties. On a one-to-one, face-to-face basis, they like us though they may not agree with our policies."
      The Evans first posting was in Pakistan, where they learned the main language of Urdu and had many adventures. Barbara has vivid memories of a 6,000-mile journey from the capital of Karachi to Katmandu in a Volkswagen Beetle. The vacation included enough excitement and hospitality to last a lifetime.
      "We put our Volkswagen on a raft for eight hours to cross the Ganges River, there were no motorboats," she said. "We landed after dark and saw some lights in the distance and just drove to them. The head of the village was so surprised to see us, they had never seen a car. We were total strangers and they welcomed us to this little village by the seaside. They gave up their beds for us."
      "People are generous all over the world, people are generous," she said.
      The Evans honed their cooking and entertaining skills during their years in the Foreign Service.
      "If you entertain a lot you have to learn how to cook," said Barbara, who has published three cookbooks. "An evening dinner party in the foreign service is where a great deal of information is collected; you want to put on the best meal possible because then people will stick around longer."