Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. This November-December 1959 Classic article looks at the life of Nella Turner Evans, a woman who became one of Baylor’s largest donors at the time, despite few ties to the university.
A recent court judgment in a lawsuit at Austin assured Baylor University of immediate benefits from the two million dollar-plus estate of the late Mrs. Nella Turner Evans. University officials say this is the largest single endowment gift ever made to Baylor. Under terms of Mrs. Evan’s will the money is bound for use in paying instructional salaries.
Who was Nella Turner Evans? Why did she leave her large estate to Baylor? Since she was known to few Baylorites, this article will undertake to introduce her and insofar as possible, explore the motivation behind the generous gift.
Final disposition of the estate in favor of Baylor climaxed a series of events with some aspects of mystery fiction. Whereabouts of the original of her last will and testament, the filing of a lawsuit challenging Baylor’s claim to the property by one group of asserted relatives while other Evans kinspeople refrained from joining, are only a part of the dramatic story.
The property, including farms, ranches, cash and securities, and personal effects of great historical and aesthetic value, and the lawsuit are of considerable interest. Perhaps the more important consideration is: What promoted Mrs. Evans to leave her estate to Baylor and earmark it to benefit teaching?
Mrs. Evans, the widow for many years of Rob Evans of Austin, had no children and no kin with as close a relationship as sister, brother, niece or nephew. She was a member of a pioneer Central Texas family, the Turners. The name is closely related to Baylor through the lifelong devotion to the University of Mrs. J. M. Dawson who is also a member of the Turner family and of the nearest kin.
Neither Mrs. Dawson nor other members of the Don Turner family joined in the lawsuit challenging the will. She and numerous other members of this branch of the family who did not join in the lawsuit, however, were legally entitled to share as the case was finally adjudicated, but they have all waived any such claim.
This made certain that a considerable portion of the amount which was set aside for the family under terms of the settlement agreed to by Baylor, reverted to the University which actually received a major portion of the large estate.
Members of the family who did not sue to break the will and who subsequently wrote off any legal claims said their reason for the act was quite simple: they had firsthand knowledge that Mrs. Evans wanted Baylor to have all of her property when she died, regardless of any legal technicality.
Not Active in Church or Civic Work
While Mrs. Evans was a Baptist, she had never been active in local church or denominational work and she was not a heavy contributor. Her chief apparent interest for many years was in business. She was known among bankers, real estate developers and investment specialists as an aggressive and sound business woman. She financed the development of many residential areas in fast-growing Austin; she had oil interests, farms, and ranches. Until the last few years of her life, she attended to every detail in person. Actually she had built up a multimillion dollar fortune from a relatively small business over a period of about 40 years. She was nearly 82 when she died.
When illness overcame Mrs. Evans in the last years of her life and she was no longer able to handle her own affairs, Mrs. David A. Cheavens, a daughter of the guardian of her person and manager of her business affairs. Meanwhile, without fanfare, Mrs. Evans had deeded much of her real property to Baylor. This was not involved in the lawsuit challenging her will. It disposed mainly of cash and securities.
Mrs. Cheavens is one of the cousins. When the lawsuit was filed both sides agreed to continue her as temporary administrix of the estate. This was approved by the court upon firm assurance that she had no intention of ever becoming a claimant. The records of her administration show that the property increased approximately $200,000 in value during the guardianship and until it formally passed into the hands of the Baptist Foundation for Baylor.
Mrs. Nella Turner Evans had not been active in civic affairs in Austin. Her social life was centered in the Austins Women’s Club where she had a small circle of close friends. A superficial look at her small circle of close friends. A superficial look at her daily activities over a long period of years in which business and money making seemed to be the dominating force in her life yields no obvious clue to the motivation in her ultimate decision to leave her property to promote the cause of Chrisitan education.
There were, however, some revelatory factors. Nella Evan’s life, no doubt, was tremendously influenced by several personal tragedies which might have overwhelmed a person of lesser courage. There is little doubt that they contributed to an outer crust which some took as hardness, yet which may have served only as a shield to guard these inner wounds of the spirit.
Those who knew her best were aware of the profound devotion to her grandmother Turner, a deeply religious pioneer woman, and to her mother. As those who were charged with disposition of her most intimate personal letters and other effects sought sympathetically to close out this phase of her life, many evidences of her deeper innermost feelings were revealed especially as they related to these loved ones.
It is also a matter of record that for a number of years, Dr. W. R. White, president of Baylor University, was her pastor. When Nella Evans was studying the question of disposing of her property, she called on Dr. White for advice although at no time had Baylor put any pressure upon her in this matter.
Likewise, it is a matter of record that Nella Evans came under the influence of the late, great Dr. A. Joseph Armstrong, Baylor’s Browning Scholar of the highest ideals. Her European tour was in a party personally conducted by Dr. Armstrong. Those who have such contacts with him are well aware of the power of his personality, his devotion to the ideals of Chrisitan education, and his inspirational abilities.
At another time, Mrs. Evans was exposed to a series of talks on Christian education by her cousin, Mrs. Dawson. This was during Mrs. Dawson’s personality campaigned over Texas in behalf of Memorial Dormitory. While Nella Evans did not respond as she might have at the time, all who are familiar with Mrs. Dawson’s extraordinary conviction and persuasive powers might reasonably speculate that she had uttered a challenge that was met at a much later time.
It is beyond dispute that for reasons best known to herself, Nella Evans, a graduate of Baylor College with its patent religious influence, never had any intention of disposing of her property for any purpose but that dedicated to Chrisitan education. Evidence of this, of course, speaks for itself in each of her three wills.
Evidence of Her Faith
There is additional evidence of the purposefulness of her decisions.
A legal advisor reported that she told him that her desire to leave her property to Baylor was founded on a profound feeling of need to give evidence of her Chrisitan faith, plus her faith in Baylor as an institution which would make worthy and effective use of her wealth. She had come to those conclusions typically by recognizing in a most realistic fashion that the days of her life were waning, and after having made an analytical study of the type of Chrisitan educational institution most worthy of an investment.
Who can say just how deep devotion to Christ dipped into the fabric of Nella Turner Evans’ character?
In a person as reserved as he was, it would be difficult, indeed unfair, to attempt to say with certainty that. Again, the very fact of the gift to Baylor and the terms under which it was made must be taken as primary evidence of her ultimate motivation. A modest and unostentatious person, she stipulated that no building be named in her behalf. She wanted none of her property invested in any area except pointedly and specifically in that of the high calling of Christian teaching. She felt secure in her trust of Baylor University as the best agency through which to implement her stewardship.
