Evelyn Shields Hewell

Evelyn Shields Hewell passed from this life to eternal peace on May 16, 2022 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She was a life-long resident of Texas before moving to Arkansas in 2008.

Evelyn was the daughter of the late John Shields and Jewell Currey Shields, born on September 25, 1924 in Burkburnett, Texas.  She married Walter Lee Hewell on December 9, 1945.  They took great delight in life together until his death in 2010. 

Evelyn was predeceased by her husband, youngest son, Scott, and sister Billie Jean Burnett.  She is survived by her eldest son, Rob Hewell, daughter-in-law Cyndy Hewell, granddaughters Kaylyn Hewell and Karyn Rose, great-grandsons DJ Hewell and River Hewell, and niece Susie Slayden.

One rarely gets to be 97 years of age without a good measure of grace, humor, faith, and a big dose of grit. Evelyn Hewell was all that and more.  She was a beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother.  Her love extended to her many friends, some of whom she cherished for well more than 60 years and others who came into her life as recently as a few months.  As attested by her active email account on her own iPad and phone calls from her many fans (as her family referred to them), those bonds were unbreakable.  Evelyn was known to her granddaughters and great-grandsons as Mandy, a moniker also favored by many of her close friends. 

Mandy was faithful in her handwritten journals, capturing significant events in her own life and those of her family.  She also noted day-to-day experiences that marked her days.  She enjoyed a career in banking for many years, even up into her early 80’s.  Travels with family to various states were frequent, and with her husband, Walter, included trips to Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Nova Scotia, and an Alaskan cruise.

Evelyn made the most of what life brought from the harsh to the heights of joy, maintaining a sense of calm that was an inspiration to anyone who knew her.  After the death of her youngest son, Evelyn began sending sympathy cards to parents of children who died young, which in time became a ministry of sending cards to homebound church members.  Much of her life centered around her faith as an active and faithful member of Baptist churches in Wichita Falls, North Richland Hills, and Fort Worth, Texas, and more recently at First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia.

The family offers their deepest gratitude and respect to the staff and Fidelis Sunday School class of First Baptist Church Arkadelphia, as well as to the physicians, nurses, and staff of Arkadelphia Medical Clinic, Baptist Health Medical Center-Arkadelphia, and Arkansas Hospice.

Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 19th at Ruggles-Wilcox Funeral Home with services to follow at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Homebound Ministry of First Baptist Church, 116 N. 7th Street, Arkadelphia, Arkansas 71923.