Father Dennis Evenson celebrates Mass inside the Leaflet Missal religious goods store in St. Paul. COURTESY KEEVIN FURLONG, LEAFLET MISSAL
Rick Evenson cherishes the last two-and-a-half months he spent with his uncle, Father Dennis Evenson, who died June 17 at Our Lady of Peace hospice care center in St. Paul at age 84.
As Father Evenson’s health declined in recent months, he called his nephew to ask if he would be his primary caregiver. Rick eagerly accepted the role, which led to a deepening of his relationship with his uncle greater than he could have imagined.
A notable event was the first time he took Father Evenson to radiation treatments for advanced bone cancer. On the drive back to the Leo C. Byrne Residence for retired priests in St Paul, where Father Evenson was living at the time, the priest made what Rick thought was an odd request.
Father Dennis Evenson
“He said, ‘Ricky, can we stop over at this ice cream place over here,’” Rick recalled. “And, I said, ‘Sure.’ He wanted to get a root beer float, he wanted to share a root beer float with me.”
Why? Right after Rick was born in 1954, Father Evenson was sitting down at the kitchen table with his mother — Rick’s grandmother — having a root beer float when she told him about Rick’s birth. Rick was her first grandchild, and Father Evenson told Rick that “she was over the moon” about it.
That discussion “started a series of conversations where we bonded,” said Rick, 64, who lives in Cottage Grove with his wife, Bernadette (“Cookie”). “I learned more about him, I think, in the last two-and-a-half months than I ever knew my whole life. … I know he always treated me fairly, and he was a good man, but I never really knew him like I got to know him here (recently). And, I think the same goes for him because I know, at one point, he told me, ‘Ricky, I just can’t tell you how bittersweet this is. I’m so glad that we’re having this time together. But, now that I’m getting to know you, I wish we could have had more of a relationship.’ That was a beautiful thing to hear, and I’m very grateful for that.”
Father Evenson was born in St. Paul, the fourth of five boys. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Duluth in 1967 and began ministering in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1985. His first assignment was at St. Timothy in Blaine from 1985 to 1989. He was incardinated into the archdiocese in 1989, and served at St. Columba in St. Paul (1989-1992), Church of the Nativity in Cleveland (1992-1996), St. Dominic in Northfield (1996-1997) and Annunciation in Hazelwood (1997-2008).
Rick calls his uncle the “embodiment of what Christianity should be about” and said he has talked to “dozens and dozens” of people who express similar sentiments. One of them told him a story about how Father Evenson helped a family from Mexico over a period of years. He met them on one of his many visits to the country, which included going to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City — one of his favorite devotions.
“When he met them over 30 years ago, they were dirt poor, poverty stricken,” Rick said. “And, through his (financial) help, they became middle class — the whole family. And then, when they got COVID — there were three members of their family that got COVID — it was because of his generosity that they were able to get (treatment).”
Father Evenson was fluent in Spanish and spoke several other languages, Rick said. He also was a frequent visitor to Leaflet Missal in St. Paul, where he met and became friends with Keevin Furlong, a longtime employee who is married to Catherine Furlong, who runs the religious goods store with her two sisters. Father Evenson was an avid reader, and he visited Leaflet Missal sometimes weekly to search for books and have lively conversations with Furlong.
“He would come in and make his way down to my office, and we’d sit and chat,” Furlong said. “He became such a part of our family. He was at my kids’ first Communions, confirmations. I had him for supper here. He just always enjoyed a good meal, good friendship, good company.”
Because of his devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Father Evenson would repeatedly ask for the latest book on the subject, Furlong said. Only a few weeks before he died, Furlong brought him a book published this year — which he read — called “Am I Not Your Mother: Reflections on Our Lady of Guadalupe” by Archbishop Luis Maria Martinez of Mexico City. The book is a collection of homilies and reflections by Archbishop Martinez, who died in 1956.
“He had such an incredible mind, even towards the end,” Furlong said about Father Evenson, who would celebrate his private Mass in the store after hours while churches were closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We used to send out prayer books to all the churches in the United States, and he would get one. He was always a master of proofreading. If there was a spelling error or something (wrong), he pointed that out.”
For Rick Evenson, his uncle’s most prominent quality was his positive attitude and sense of gratitude, even in the midst of suffering.
“He looked at the good side” of things, Rick said. “The glass was always half full. He was always grateful, even when he was in pain, like going to those radiation therapy sessions. It was very difficult getting him out of the chair, putting him in the wheelchair. He would be in pain because his bones had cancer in them. (But), he never complained. He always said, ‘God is good.’”
The funeral Mass for Father Evenson is 10 a.m. June 27 at Maternity of Mary in St. Paul, with a visitation one hour before the Mass. Interment will be at Annunciation Cemetery in Hazelwood.
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