God had numbered Mary Evelyn Davis Norris’ days to end at 8:30 P.M. on May 20, 2026. He had determined that she had “run the race set before her.” (Hebrews 12:1) Evelyn’s course of life began in Benchley, a small community near Bryan, Texas, where she was born to Augustine Davis and H. R. Tiggs on June 26,1936. At the age of five, Evelyn went to live with her uncle, N. L. Davis, and her aunt, Espanola Davis, who functionally became her parents and who preceded her in death. She was reared in the Douglass and Jackson communities in East Texas. Growing up in the Davis home meant that she worked on the farm, butchering cows and hogs, hauling hay, working in the gardens, fields, and so forth. It also meant that she would take piano lessons from Espanola and Professor Mildred Baker at Texas College. Evelyn graduated from Jackson High School and attended Fisk University in Nashville, TN, majoring in music. She then attended Texas College in Tyler, where she earned a Master of Music Education Degree. She gave many classical concerts. One of the most loved pieces that she played was “Clair de Lune.” (Also used as today’s processional music) A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Evelyn later attended Stephen F. Austin State University where she obtained lifetime certification in Kindergarten. She was asked, by then superintendent, Charles Harris, to start the kindergarten program in Chapel Hill ISD. Prior to Chapel Hill, she taught music in the Trinidad School District, Tyler ISD (Peete Elementary and Dunbar Elementary), and Winona ISD. She ended her honorable, meritorious career as a kindergarten teacher at Jackson Elementary School.

Evelyn married science teacher and coach, Herbert Norris, on June 11, 1960, which would have been sixty-six years of marriage this month. Evelyn and Herbert, along with Marvie Lee Francis and Catherine Hooper Mosley, established the Chandelier Country Club to provide scholarships to deserving students in the Jackson community. The Davises took in a little boy, who would become Evelyn’s one and only brother, Richard. Evelyn gave birth to two children, Herbevelynne and Deon, and she and Herbert also helped raise two other children, Bennie Earl Gaines “Norris” and Deborah Hughes Mosley. Evelyn was one of the Jackson/Chapel Hill community’s most gracious and “outstanding” cooks who loved serving people, even when she was feeble and in physical pain. Evelyn loved classical music and gospel music, and she attended many gospel music workshops. She retired as musical director and pianist at St. Violet Baptist Church in 2019. She was also the vacation Bible school coordinator and teacher and a deaconess at St. Violet Church.

Evelyn leaves to hold and cherish her memories, her husband, Herbert Norris; her daughter, Herbevelynne Delois Norris “Kitten;” her son, Darrell Deon Norris and his wife, Angelique Dede Norris; her brother, Rev. Richard Hughes Davis and his wife, Carlyn Christy Davis; her grandsons, Mycal Dede, Xavier Norris, and Kingston “KJ” Norris; her granddaughter, Sasha Norris; four nephews, Victor Norris, Tyrone Norris, Clinton Winfrey, and Nikolaus L. Davis; two nieces, Audra L. Davis and Regina Robertson; a “special son,” Rev. Richard Gaines; a “special daughter,” Charlotte Barron;” a “special sister,” Thomasine Cleaver; an aunt, Flora Workman; her God-children, Evelyn Busby, Cheryl Mills, Rodrick Scott, and Tristan Edwards; and many other family members and dear friends.