Volume_29_Issue_2

As with so many of our National Park Service (NPS) partners, they start their careers as seasonals or interns doing specific projects during the busy summer months. Such is the case with Alyce Evans, a Park Guide at the Eisenhower National Historic Site (EISE). She is also a native to the Adams County area and grew up " “fascinated by the battlefield for as long as I can remember.” When the opportunity came, Evans became an intern at EISE in 2003, was hired as a seasonal in 2004 and has worked there for the past 14 years. A graduate of Kutztown University with a degree in history and fromMillersville University with a master’s degree, she has been a history student from childhood. Her master’s degree thesis topic was “Regrettable Epidemic,”about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic at Camp Colt where Dwight D. Eisenhower served as a tank instructor. Evans considers herself fortunate to have had two mentors from her earliest days at EISE. First there was Carol Hegeman who gave her many opportunities to mature as an NPS employee and taught her how to steer through lots of paperwork and regulations. She credits John Joyce with helping shape her “ideas of what an interpretative ranger should be.” She thinks that the two parks at Gettysburg, EISE and Gettysburg National Military Park (GETT) are beginning to communicate more to develop interpretive programs which will be an asset for visitors. One of Evans’ favorite duties was the assignment to be the Adopt-a-Position Coordinator for a little over a year under Randy Hill in the parks' Maintenance Division. This allowed her to work with volunteers who “adopt” a monument or section of the battlefield and help the park maintain that area. She believes this is a remarkable program that genuinely allows people who love the battlefield to give back to the park. When asked if volunteers are useful, her reply was “incredibly so!” She went on to explain that the volunteers at EISE are the backbone of the Eisenhower team because they do everything from interpretation to curations to working in the vegetable garden and at the show barn. When asked about the best part of her job, Evans answered, “The ability to create and present programs about the history of the farm and General Eisenhower. Over the course of my career at the park I have created programs about Civil Rights, Mamie’s role in the Eisenhower story, as well as the history of Camp Colt and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.” She continued, “It seems that many visitors and volunteers come to Gettysburg because they have been long- time students of the Civil War, but rarely come with more than a basic understanding of who Eisenhower was. If they are familiar with him at all, it is usually in his role as an Army general. It is rewarding to be able to tell what he achieved as our 34th president, as well as a private citizen of Gettysburg.” In her free time, Evans enjoys sewing clothing, purses, and quilts and can be found in her sewing room with a history documentary playing in the background. For fun, she enjoys learning about British history. But professionally she is always thinking of how “we can get a new generation of people interested in keeping our parks vital and healthy. We need to teach them why these places have been preserved in hopes that will help them respect and preserve these sites into the future.” Partners Make It Happen: A LYCE E VANS By Barbara J. Finfrock Preservation & Progress Volume 29, Issue 2 19 Alyce Evans at Eisenhower National Historic Site. Alyce leads a group of student at EISE.