Obituary - Evelyn Grace Works

Evelyn Grace Works, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother died at her home on the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Indian Reservation Friday, December 11.  She was 98 years old. Her family was at her bedside.

At the time of her death, she was the Fallon Paiute- Shoshone Tribe’s oldest living member.  The tribe’s newsletter, Numa News, honored Evelyn for this milestone in her life by profiling her in a cover story published in February.

She was born Evelyn Grace Dixon at Stillwater, Nevada on February 13, 1922, to Harold Dixon and Hattie Pete.  Little more than two years later, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, making all Indians citizens. But that didn’t automatically give Indians the right to vote in many states. That wouldn’t happen until decades later.

Evelyn spent her formative, hardscrabble years on the Fallon reservation. This, at a time when Indians endured overt and systemic racism. For example, Indians were not allowed to eat in Fallon restaurants. This greatly angered Evelyn’s mother, Hattie Pete. 

“Indians had to eat in the alley,” the Numa News reported in its feature story on Evelyn.

“Worse yet, Indians couldn’t be in town after dark,” the Numa News said. Such places in Nevada and elsewhere were called “sundown towns.” In this country, this practice dates back to at least the 1700s.

As a young girl, Evelyn attended government boarding schools, Stewart Indian School, formerly called the Carson Indian School, near Carson City, and the Sherman Institute in Riverside, California.

When she was 17, tragedy struck when her mother, Hattie Pete, was attacked and killed on August 1, 1939, and died in Fernley. Her assailant was never found. Attacks like this gave rise decades later to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s movement.

Evelyn served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. She was one of about 150,000 women who volunteered for the WAC, bucking public opinion and conservative U.S. Army leadership that opposed women being in uniform. In the end, the WAC persevered and proved their mettle. They were awarded the Women’s Army Corps Service Medal. Evelyn’s three brothers were also veterans. Her oldest brother, Lester Dixon, was a U.S. Marine who fought on Iwo Jima during that war’s Pacific campaign.

Evelyn was 23 years old when she was honorably discharged from the Women’s Army Corp in February 1945. Later, while raising a family, she returned to college to become a Licensed Vocational Nurse. She worked as a nurse for several years. She also worked at the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe’s health clinic and its senior center.

Evelyn was an avid reader and enjoyed fiction and books on U.S history, the American West, and other subjects. She also enjoyed her photo albums and taking her Native baskets to schools to give cultural presentations.

Evelyn is preceded in death by her grandparents, Little Pete and Lucy Pete; parents Harold Dixon and Hattie Pete; husbands Frank Lewis, Fermin Medellin, and David Works; brothers Lester Dixon, Harold Oudie Dixon, and Francis Allen; and two sons, Conrad Lewis and Raul Lewis.

She is survived by sons R. Heredia of Fresno, California; Gerard Works of Fallon; and Adrian Works of Lemoore, California; daughters Corrine Lewis of Fallon; Sherry Lewis of Fresno, California; Teresa Montgomery of Fallon; and Carmela Rodriguez of Sun Valley, Nevada.

Several nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren also survive her.

A viewing will be Thursday, December 17 at 6 p.m., followed by the praying of the Rosary at 7 p.m. at the Gardens Funeral Home Cemetery Crematory, 2949 Austin Highway in Fallon.

Funeral services will be held at 12 p.m. noon, Friday, December 18, at the Gardens Funeral Home. Evangelist Corrine Lewis will officiate. A color guard will render military honors and play “Taps.”

Burial will be at the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Indian Cemetery.

Wearing masks and social distancing for the viewing, the Rosary, the funeral and the burial are strongly encouraged. These measures are to protect against COVID-19.  The funeral will be videotaped for those unable to attend.