Clara Evans

As published on carlsbad.patch.com; Nov. 28, 2010

Everyone Has a Story; Clara Evans Has an Extraordinary One

Meet the lady behind the artist.

   On any given weekend in front of Carlsbad Inn, you may find, as I did, artist Clara Evans.

Clara was born and raised in Amsterdam, immigrated to America, went back to Holland for college, then to North Carolina, Florida and finally California (Pacific Beach) where she's "been in the same house since 1958."  Much of her artwork draws on memories of these travels.

She commutes to Carlsbad from Pacific Beach on a regular basis. She'd love to live here and prefers Carlsbad "because it's such a peaceful [yet active] area." But one of her three sons and grandchildren are there in PB, so she's "staying close to them."

Clara's closeness with her family is deep-rooted. You see, when she was 9 years old and her parents were planning their immigration to America, her mom protested the date on the tickets that her dad brought home. Obeying his wife's wishes, he got them listed on a later departure on another ship. A few days later they learned that their original vessel had hit two German mines and sank within minutes in the North Sea. Clara declares that her family was certainly blessed that day and that they shed many tears together over the years for the families that lost their lives.

Whoever coined the phrase "Everyone has a story to tell" was spot on. It's true-life stories like Clara's that are in each of us. Some are grand, some are sublime, some are poignant, some are strange—and the list goes on. But the only way to hear the history and thoughts bottled up in that regular person next to you in line at the Farmers Market, walking along Carlsbad Boulevard or just sitting at the Carlsbad Inn art exhibit, is to ask. 

###

the backstory...

I didn't get the bit about that fateful day until I had her show me some of her art. I noticed that in a number of pieces, she had renderings of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse along with tiny, tiny printing. First, I asked about the lighthouse, "Well, that," she said, "is the first thing I remember seeing when we finally got to America." Then the tiny printing... "Those are all shipwrecks that happened along the North Carolina coast since they've been keeping records." Okay, fair enough. "You immigrated to America?" I asked, "How did that go?" Seeing the drawings of the lighthouse and the list of shipwrecks along with her using the word "finally" clued me in... and being the socially aware person that I am, I knew there HAD to have been an issue. And there was; and that's when she told me.

She couldn't remember many details but gave me enough to verify the events and here's what I found: I believe they were to sail on a Finnish military ship called the Ilmarinen. She had mentioned that her dad worked for a shipyard and that some big flagship vessel was to carry them to America- that's all she knew/could remember. The Ilmarinen is the only ship on record that has ever been struck by two German sea mines in the North Sea. This was in September 1941 and it was the flagship of the fleet.

Apparently, I believe, they were going to another port in the North Sea, then on to another ship headed for the shipyard at Cape Hattaras. I think she had/has no idea it was a military transport. Her father was most likely being transferred by the Finnish Navy to the US for who knows whatever reason. Being that she was nine, she didn't have all those details, and I guess was never really given them later in life.

At any rate, it was a major sinking to the Finnish military- their flagship vessel; 132 survived, 271 lost. The ship was completely submerged in seven minutes.

Everything I verified correlates to the few sketchy details she gave me in that brief interview, surrounded by her art on the side of the road.

###