Born in February 1975. At age 3 months, Mother dies of heroin overdose administered by father who goes to prison and then moves to Florida after release. Devin was set to go to Foster care, but then raised by his paternal grandparents. (Only photo of me and mom together.)
My paternal grandparents took me in and raised me, and my brother-uncles Bob and Joe both stayed with us for a few years on and off. It was in a nice house that was built a few months before I was born. Our family lived there 45 years.
Taught myself to skate in the summer of 1996 and that autumn I made the Illinois State University hockey team as a goaltender. Started on the B-team against regional clubs, and was second-string on the A team and faced teams like University of Illinois and UW Platteville. (ISU Redbird Hockey)
My real father moved back to my hometown during my middle-school years. He had a girlfriend and i stayed with my grandparents. He died from slipping on the ice and cracking his head while I was away at college. He was 44. (This is our only photo of just us two.)
In December we married after a two year engagement. We first met as dates to Homecoming freshman year at Catholic school, and then met up again in public school our junior year. We married our second year in college at ISU.
Established a one-screen independent cinema that served pizza and beer in a refurbished glass-blowing factory. Operated for 3 years and then closed because I overextended our business and was young and foolish with money.
Expanded my Brew & View to the larger Rocket Cinema which was three times as large, and a historic cinema that I first wanted for the BV. Closed after one year due to over extending and bad habits.
While closing the Rocket I was offered a job to do the FFE and operate the Redstone Room, a state-of-the art, 100 seat music venue at the River Music Experience. I managed many shows with the likes of Junior Brown, Martin Sexton and William Elliott Whitmore (who first appeared at BV in 2003). I left after just 6 months, after the opportunity to start a tech company, SEO Copywriters.
Published by Strong Arm Press in Washington DC. The Story of Lane Evans.