Ronald D. Bevans, 63

Ronald D. (Ron) Bevans died June 7, 2004, at the Idaho State Veteran's Home in Lewiston from liver and heart problems.

A viewing will be held from noon to 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 10, 2004, at Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home in Lewiston. Cremation will take place following the visitation. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, June 11, 2004, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Genesee.

Ronald was born in Wahoo, Neb., on March 22, 1941, to Byron and Naomi Bevans, Bevans was a 1964 graduate of the University of Nebraska with a bachelor's of architecture degree. He continued his architecture education at the University of Washington in Seattle graduating in 1965 with a master's degree in architecture.

It was during his graduate student years as a teaching assistant that he realized his love for teaching and decided to make that his life's work. Bevans was an extremely caring and gifted instructor.

It was also in 1965 that he and his wife Alice Kluck of Schuyler, Neb., whom he had married on Dec. 21, 1962, welcomed their first son, Wesley.

Immediately following graduate school, Bevans entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. During 1966 to 1967, he was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. It was there their second son, Stephen, was born.

Bevans and his wife, Alice, were both college professors, and spent many hours sharing thought, frustrations, joy and humorous experiences about their students and the teaching careers they both loved

Bevans began his teaching career at Idaho State University in 1967. In 1970, he accepted a position at the University of Idaho. Bevans was passionate about architectural education and the practice of architecture. He became the first chair of architecture in 1977.

In 1978 he wrote the proposal to the Idaho Board of Regents to create the College of Art and Architecture. With Paul L. Blanton, he organized the strategy and procedures that culminated in the department becoming a college in 1981. At that time he became the first chair of the Department of Architecture and Interior Design and first associate dean of the new college. He later served as acting dean for one year. He was active in the American Institute of Architecture (AIA), The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and NCARB.

Along with William Snyder, Bevans co-founded the Beta Epsilon Chapter of the Tau Sigma Delta academic honorary at the University of Idaho.

In 1991, the governor appointed him to the Idaho State Board of Architectural Examiners. He was appointed to a second term which ended in 2001. He was a founding member of the city of Genesee Planning & Zoning Commission, and authored the city's comprehensive plan and the planning and zoning ordinance in 1976. About that time he was named to the Moscow Board of Adjustment/Board of Appeals as the Latah County representative.

Bevans was active in the Idaho AIA chapter serving in numerous offices. As a member of the Idaho State Board of Architectural Examiners, Bevans served as secretary, vice-chair and chair. He was active as an evaluator for both landscape and architectural accreditation teams at Colorado State University and Cal-Poly, Pomona, Calif., and served on the NAAB team at the University of Illinois in Urbana.

Bevans maintained a modest practice with Robert Broyles at Lewiston in the earlier years but as he became more involved in administration at the University of Idaho he found it difficult to continue in private practice and he eventually discontinued his work in the private sector.

Bevans championed equal opportunities for women in educational and professional life. His enthusiasm started at home where he encouraged and supported his wife to obtain her master's and doctoral degrees. He always encouraged women in architecture and worked hard to attempt to have the first woman nominated for the Idaho Board of Architecture. He was very disappointed that he was not able to accomplish that goal.

He loved to ski, boat, bicycle and travel. He was an avid Nebraska Cornhusker and Washington Huskies fan, and managed to get back to Nebraska for at least one football game each fall. He good-naturedly took much teasing whenever Oklahoma would beat Nebraska. Bevans was especially known for his wit and great sense of humor, and was immensely proud of his sons' achievements: Wes is a police officer in Nampa, and Steve is a controller for Healthcast Corp. in Boise.

Bevans is survived by his wife, Alice, at the family home: son, Wesley Bevans, his wife Kimber, and son Alex, and son, Steve Bevans, and his wife Nicole and their children, Jacob, Allison and Ashtyn, all of Boise.

The family suggests memorials be sent to the architecture scholarship fund at the University of Idaho in c/o the Department of Architecture, University of Idaho in Moscow.

Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home of Lewiston is in charge of services.