A love that will last for eternity!
Charles “LaLa” Evans and his late wife Louis were married for 59 years and 11 months before her sudden passing in 2011. After her death, Evans wanted to honor their love story and remember all the good times they shared. That’s when he decided to turn a portion of their home into a museum. Today, the couples’ six-decade love story exists in photographs at “Lala and Louise’s Place” in Starkville, Mississippi, Great Big Story reports.
Evans and his wife met when they were just teenagers, attending the same school and church growing up. One day, he decided to walk her home, recalling that her mother questioned who he was.
“That George Evans’ son? Well, boy is from some pretty good stock. He all right,” Evans remembers her father chiming in.
Their love blossomed, and the two courted before having their first official date at the senior prom in 1951. In August of that same year, they married, and Evans took a job as a shoeshiner, working even on the morning of his wedding. The two married without a ring but full of love. Evans eventually joined the army, where he remained until 1955. The following year, the two took out a loan and built a house; it’s the same home Evans lives in today.
The two enjoyed their life, settling in Starkville’s Needmore neighborhood, one of the early African American neighborhoods in the city. They lived through the Jim Crow South, holding fast to their love, Louise working in the city’s cafes once they became integrated. Meanwhile, Evans made history as the first Black mailman in Starksville, a job he would hold for 30 years. Together, the couple had two sons, 18 years apart. They thrived, lived, and worked, giving back to their community in numerous ways, lobbying to ensure the community center name was changed to Needmore Community Center and securing a road sign for the community and a marker in George Evans Park, a local park named after Evans’ father.
“We were always community people, you see, and that was our way of giving back,” Evans explained.
Throughout their union, the two never failed to document their life, taking thousands of pictures over the years, from the little moments to the major milestones.
“[Louise] never passed up an opportunity to take a picture, you know, and I don’t think I ever took a bad picture of her,” said Evans.
When Louise passed away unexpectedly, those pictures became the basis of the LaLa Land museum that Evans constructed in their backyard, something he said they always talked about before she passed away but never got around to. The heartfelt gesture caught the attention of locals and eventually major media sites, including Great Big Story and Ellen Degeneres, who featured Evans on her show in 2016. Over the years, the museum has attracted thousands, many coming to view the photographic exhibition of Evans’ love story.
“We had such a beautiful life. I got so much to remember. And I’m just living a beautiful memory,” Evans previously told reporters.
Today, Evans is struggling to keep the museum together. Now over 90 years old, he said multiple storms have hit the area in recent years and impacted the museum, and while it is still his comfort zone, he admits it has seen better days.
“This is the worst shape it has ever been in. The storms just beat it to death. You’ll find some beautiful pictures of it online and how it used to look. But it’s just hard to keep up with,” he told local reporters.
Still, Evans says he’s happy he made the museum in his wife’s honor and still enjoys days spent reflecting on their time together and sitting in the place he built to memorialize their love.
“It brings back such memories. I can come out here and reminisce and play the music in the background and look over my past…I have no regrets,” said Evans.
If you want to help Evans preserve the museum, you can contact him directly at charlesevans106@yahoo.com. Check out the couple’s incredible love story below!
Cover photo: Mississippi Man Creates Museum Dedicated to He & His Late Wife’s Six-Decade Love Story/Photo credit: Robin Rayne Nelson/DailyMail.com