Tom “Pappy the Ramblin’ Man” Evans, who died Aug. 28 at age 57, led a nomadic life that included at least one stint as a rodeo clown.
He was an ebullient storyteller, relaying tales so extravagant that listeners often suspected they were embellished if not made from whole cloth.
Evans never hesitated to prove the veracity of his rodeo-clowning career by hoisting his plaid flannel shirt, revealing a 3-inch-round white scar on his abdomen. Sometimes he showed off the scar as a pre-emptive strike.
“It certainly looked like he’d been gored by a bull with a round horn,” said Penelope Deem, the evening charge nurse at Sierra Health Care in Lakewood, the Medicare facility where Evans spent his final two years being treated for several ailments.
But she doubted his stories of working as a circus clown or a makeup artist, although she conceded that he might have done makeup for other rodeo clowns.
She also granted plausibility to Evans’ narratives about his lumberjack days, given his custom of dressing in a layer of thermal underwear, jeans and a flannel shirt over a T-shirt.
She never doubted his anecdotes about living through hard times. To borrow a phrase cowboys apply to overworked horses, Evans looked like he had been ridden hard and put away wet.
“He was a hobo for many years,” Deem said. “He just rambled around. Jumped freights. But he had a good heart, a golden heart.
“He came here with a good stash of greeting cards. He welcomed new people with a card. He gave out birthday cards and sympathy cards. That was his great gift to the world.”
The cards, candy and other treats Evans distributed so freely led others at Sierra Heath Care to wonder about his relatives, but Evans became uncharacteristically vague on the subject of family.
His rare comments gave the impression that he once was married, but that his drinking binges drove away his wife. He sometimes said he had one child and sometimes said he had seven.
“He lost touch with his kids years ago,” Deem said. “That made him sad. He was a good guy and a good friend.”
Evans proclaimed himself a spiritual man, with a firm belief in God. He liked to sing “King of the Road” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.”
Deem chose both songs, along with “Amazing Grace,” to be played at Evans’ memorial service, which will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at the Tower of Memories Chapel at Olinger Crown Hill Mortuary, 7777 W. 29th Ave., Wheat Ridge.
Evans died with less than $71 in assets. The mortuary waived the cost of the service and donated the costs associated with inurnment, along with a marked niche.
“If, when we die, we go somewhere, bet you a dollar he’s ramblin’ there,” Deem said, quoting Tom Paxton’s “Ramblin’ Boy,” another song Evans cherished.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
