Evan Scott Laws

Evan was born on June 8, 1987 in Quincy, Illinois.  He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long.  He joined a brother Brian (5 1/2 years) and a sister Shannon (3 1/2 years). 

Evan moved to Canton, MO with his Mom, and siblings Brian and Shannon.  He started 6th grade.

Evan transferred back to the Quincy School district and finished out his high school years at Quincy Senior High School.  He stayed in Canton with his Mom half the time and in Quincy with his Dad half the time.

On October 4, 2004, Evan became and uncle when Hopie Rae Laws was born.  Hopie is the daughter of his brother Brian and his wife April.  The day that Hopie was born, Evan headed to the hospital immediately when he got out of school.  He refused to hold her because she was so little that the thought of holding her scared him.  I made him sit down and I handed Hopie to him.  He was immediately very deeply in love with that precious baby.  Once he held her, if he was at the hospital, you had to fight to hold Hopie because Evan would immediately pick her up when he got there and he would hold her as long he was allowed to.  This did not change once she got home from the hospital.  He adored that little girl.  She turned 10 months old 2 days after his funeral.

He is currently watching over her from Heaven.  We suspect that he is whispering ideas in her ear as she is a bit of stinker!!  She keeps her Mom & Dad on their toes!

Evan became the proud owner of a 1999 Dodge Neon Sport.  He spent many hours working on it and customizing it.

Evan graduated from Quincy Senior High School!

Evan celebrated his 18th birthday!

On July 27, Evan was a passenger in a car driven by his friend Kelley.  They left Canton around 11:30 AM headed for nearby Quincy, IL.  About 9 miles from Canton, the car went out of control, hit and went over a guardrail and landed upside down in a creek bed.  The car with both boys still in it was found the next day, July 28.

Article from Quincy Herald Whig (Friday July 29, 2005)

Quincy teens killed

by Nancy Terwelp

Funeral arrangements are being made later today for two 2005 graduates of Quincy (IL) High School who were killed in a one-car accident on U.S. 61, three miles south of LaGrange.

Kelley John Walker and his passenger, Evan Scott Laws, were pronounced dead at the scene by Lewis County Coroner Larry Arnold about 10:30 a.m. Thursday. The Duker and Haugh Funeral Home in Quincy is in charge of the arrangements for both.

Missouri State Highway Patrol reports the 1985 Buick was southbound when it went off the right side of the road, struck a guardrail, became airborne and struck a tree. The car came to rest on its top in Durgen's Creek. Where the car landed is not readily visible from the road.

Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish said that Laws' mother, Heidi Laws, of Canton, had reported to the Canton Police Department about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday that her son was missing. His father is Don Laws of Quincy.

The Walker boy's father, John Walker of Quincy, had been driving along U.S. 61 hunting for the vehicle when he spotted it in the creek bed, Parrish said today. Walker's mother is Lisa Walker of Quincy. Parrish said his department had not been notified until the wreckage was found Thursday.

Lewis County Sheriff Department was alerted about 9:30 a.m. Thursday that a vehicle was spotted in the creek near the Beilstein Camper sales.

Evan Scott Laws, 18, of Canton, MO, and Quincy, IL died at 10:30 a.m. Thursday (July 28, 2005) on U.S. 61 near LaGrange, MO.

Evan was born June 8, 1987, in Quincy, a son of Donald and Heidi Redenius Laws.

He attended school in Canton as well as Quincy Public Schools and was a 2005 graduate of Quincy Senior High School. he attended Lighthouse Baptist Church in Quincy.

Evan enjoyed working on cars and had planned to go on to John Wood Community College to get a business degree and open his own car customization shop.

Evan is survived by his parents, Donald Laws of Quincy and Heidi Laws of Canton; a brother, Brian Laws and his wife, April of Canton; a sister Shannon Laws and her boyfriend Matt Stephens, both of Wausau, WI; a niece, Hopie Rae Laws; maternal grandparents, Virgil and Helen Redenius of LaPrairie; aunts and uncles, Kathy and Steve Lane of Hannibal, MO, Vicky and Don Cleeton of Ewing, MO, Dave and Linda Laws, Bob and Debbie Laws and Jerry Laws, all of Quincy, Jack and Rhonda Laws of Berkeley, CA, Bill and Joan Laws of Colorado Springs, CO, and Diann and John Aden of Golden; as well as many cousins and friends.

He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Bill and Louise Laws, and his maternal great-grandmother, Minnie Redenius.

Services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Duker and Haugh Funeral Home in Quincy. Burial will be in Memorial Garden Cemetary in Golden.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday in the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the educational fund of his niece, Hopie Rae Laws.

The Duker and Haugh Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

(No other great grandparents names were listed as the rest died before he was born.)

Canton Press News Journal (August 4, 2005)

Two killed when car lands in creek

by Dan Steinbeck

Another tally has been added to the Canton R-V student connection traffic fatality list.

The seventh victim since March, 2000 is Evan S. Laws, 18, of Quincy, IL, but attended school at Canton R-V in the past.

Laws and another Quincy male, Kelley J. Walker, 18, were pronounced dead at the scene of an accident on U.S. 61, three miles south of LaGrange at 10:30 a.m. by Lewis County Coroner Larry Arnold.

The accident is believed to be the first fatality on that four-lane section of Lewis County's U.S. 61 since the road opened as four-lane since November, 1977.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. July 27, some 22 hours before being discovered.

The Patrol said Walker's 1985 Buick was southbound and began to skid, ran off the right side of the road, struck a guardrail, went airborne, struck a tree, and came to rest on its top in a ravine.

The car was totaled.

Trooper Tony O'Brien said speed was a likely factor in the crash, but would not comment on other factors, until after a toxicology report. Arnold said that report usually takes two to three weeks.

O'Brien said the accident was not visible from the highway and weeds around the guardrail hid any damage to the guardrail. Law's family apparently filed a missing person report with Canton Police about 9 p.m. July 27.

Walker and Laws are believed to have left Canton about noon July 27, and the wreckage was apparently found by Walker's family.

For most of the time emergency crews worked the accident, at least one lane of the southbound 61 was open, except for about 15 minutes it was closed to lift the car from the creek bed.

A State Patrol major crash team was to help in the investigation.

Later in the day the accident was discovered, friends put balloons and flowers at the crash site.

The other six Canton R-V students who died in car accidents since March 2000 are:

* Kristin Hendrickson, March, 2000, U.S. 61 south of Route C (then two lanes, now four) two months before she would have graduated.

* Adam Martin, 19, and Darren Cale, 17, August, 2001, 10 miles north of Canton on U.S. 61 in Clark County (two lanes, in the plans to be four-laned). The accident happened three months after Martin graduated.

* Jeannette B. Schuetz, 18, June, 2002, less than two weeks after graduating, on U.S. 61 north of Hannibal in Marion County.

* Christopher D. McIntosh, 19, January, 2004, Route B between Canton and LaGrange, eight months after graduating.

* Francis James Farris, 18, September 2004, weeks into his senior year, in an accident in Schuyler County.

*** Toxicology report mentioned is required by law and is for statistical purposes only. Evan's came back negative. Since these reports are not released to the public, I do not know how Kelley's turned out.