Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Lifeline

Media Credit: Jeffrey LaMonde Brandon Evans poses Tuesday at Helms Funeral Home, 330 S. University St. Evans, a Waterford sophomore, grew up in an interesting place - a funeral home. After moving in with his father at Donelson, Johns and Evans Funeral Home in Waterford, Evans grew accustomed to being around funerals and death. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Jeffrey LaMonde "It was extreme," Evans said of living at a funeral home, "but I've been around it my entire life." Evans has been the butt of jokes from his friends - often saying his family "makes a living off other people dying," but Evans takes it lightheartedly. [Click to enlarge]

Brandon Evans sees dead people on a regular basis.

But they're not ghostly apparitions or zombies. They are welcomed visitors in his home.

The sophomore grew up living under the roof of Donelson, Johns and Evans Funeral Home, his family's business in Waterford.

Since birth, Evans has become accustomed to watching his family make a living off of the death of others. And while death is an idea many have difficulty understanding, Evans has become desensitized to it.

"People ask me, 'isn't it depressing to come home and always see people crying?' Not really," he said. "When other people's family member has died, while they are sad, I wonder how they set up the flowers."

Evans' family lives in a separate area on the top floor of the funeral home, where the sounds of pianos and eulogies are at a constant, all day, every day, including New Years Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"I just tune it out," he said.

He said he's never had any strange spiritual encounters or awkward terrifying experiences. He has never been scared by the fact that corpses frequent his home.

But the same cannot be said for the friends who visit.

"I've given a tour to friends on a boring night to see if they're scared and usually, they are," he said. "I'll run upstairs to grab something and my friend will be like -'I swear that light just turned off.' And I'll be like 'It's motion sensor, Dude."

Evans' girlfriend, Waterford sophomore Erin Quinn, said scary things are happening all the time, but Evans doesn't notice. Sudden loud noises have echoed through the house and the power has gone out while visiting, terrifying Quinn, while Evans remained unfazed.

And she still is disturbed by the fact that there always is a corpse nearby.

"The first thing I noticed was that it had the craziest carpet," she said. "And then you look to your left and there's just a body chilling in the casket and it's normal to everyone that lives there and it's just not normal to me."

Still, some of Evans' friends find his living arrangements funny.

Evans and some of those friends joke about playing pranks on unsuspecting visitors.

Max Evans, Evans' father and the funeral home's owner, said being brought up in such an environment has not had lasting negative effects on his son and rather has contributed to his favorable personality.

He always has been popular, strong in academics and athletics and generally is a happy person, Max Evans said.

"In less profound ways, it's shaped him, having to always be quiet," his father explained. "I would think that that individual experience with death, second hand association with the tragedies that can occur and all of the profound impact that are associated have shaped Brandon the way he is."

Donelson, Johns and Evans Funeral Home has held services for many kinds of people, including the siblings of his close friends. But it's the death of young soldiers that are the most upsetting.

"They're kids our age and they died in a war," Evans said. "My best friend is a Marine. It's more that that could definitely be me as opposed to Great Aunt Bessie."

Watching the bodies of young people come in and out of the funeral home has influenced the way he lives his life - he doesn't take bold and unnecessary risks.

But there are some things he's been unable to avoid.

On two separate occasions, he has been arrested for breaking into his own home.

While locked out late at night, he made attempts to get through an open upstairs window and neighbors called the police.

"The cops didn't believe that I actually lived there," he said. "They had their guns drawn thinking I was breaking and entering and I finally convinced them to take my wallet out of my pocket and check my address."


lifeline@cm-life.com

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