Evan Mark McMullin

Evan Mark McMullin was born on August 30, 1978. Just before his death on June 16th, 2025, he took his childhood scrapbooks to his parents' home in Salt Lake City, Utah and looked through the photos of the first 11 years of his life, memorializing them for himself before he made his final decision to move on to a place where he could find more peace. In his sobbing goodbye, he repeatedly mentioned the family flag, hand sewn by his mother and first hung on the family porch the day she brought him home from the hospital as a baby. The flag had a white star for Evan in the center of a circle of stars, each one representing his parents and his four older siblings, all sewn onto a blue background with the motto "Simul in Aeturnum," Latin for "Together for Eternity." His mother placed a photo of the flag in his urn in honor of the memories that were important to him during his final moments.

And as difficult as Evan's childhood was, it had many moments worth memorializing during his final thoughts. His childhood relationship with his older sister Anne was so strong that Evan became much of the inspiration for her work with neurodiversity today. Evan was a highly intelligent and undiagnosed Level 1 autistic with ADHD and Tourette's. He was born onto this planet with more challenges than many face in a lifetime, and he met them with courage and strength despite how confusing the world was considering his neurology and the extremity of the trauma he faced being sex trafficked as a child and teen and then retaliated against as an adult for daring to speak too publicly.

The good moments of childhood were worth remembering in his final hours even if he had made the decision that he needed to be released from his challenges.

As children, Evan and Anne were inseparable. They often used the quarters they'd earned throwing a few newspapers for their family to hop the public buses and visit Salt Lake City's downtown malls without adult supervision. They'd ride the Crossroads Mall escalators in the large central atrium up to the third floor to buy Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies only to dash, cookies in hand, back down the escalators so they could purchase candy by the pound inside ZCMI, confidently approaching adult shop attendants for service without hesitation - and only very rarely waiting on any single escalator step.

On many of their adventures, Anne kept Evan on a leash so he wouldn't run off and get lost. They knew nothing about Evan being neurodivergent at the time, but Evan trusted Anne implicitly and was completely amenable to this arrangement. They couldn't have been happier together - smiling out their childhood freedom and independence with a shared adoration. They played skee-ball in the basement of Crossroads and exchanged the tickets they won for cheap plastic toys that became treasures that cluttered their bedrooms. They used their saved pennies to buy stickers from gift shops so they could display them in their sticker albums. When there was enough money in their shared purses, they would walk to Trolley Square to visit the Spaghetti Factory where they always ordered their pesto salad dressing on the side so they could dip their bread into it.

Anne also took it upon herself to teach Evan to read and write. Evan, adoring anything and everything that Anne thought up, was a more-than-willing pupil. Their pennies were splurged on Sesame Street magazines found at the Smith's grocery store on 9th and 9th so Evan and Anne could work through them diligently, Anne bestowing all her knowledge of Kindergarten and first grade upon her younger brother. His preschool teachers were astounded and charmed when they took the time to listen to Evan's full demonstration of counting all the way up to 500.

He called her "Retta" and she called him "Moon." Sometimes he'd combine the two names and call her "Retta Moon." When Anne got a gumption to collect worms or "potato bugs," Evan was by her side. When it was time to fight dragons, they'd balance on the rungs of the family ladder laid flat in the grass as an obstacle course and swing their plastic swords before lobbing apples from their apple tree, as bombs, at the back of the family home in order to defeat their foes, watch the apples smash, and listen to the fantastic thuds they made as they hit the home's bricks and then the concrete below.

One summer day when Evan was about four, they were so entertained by a curmudgeonly neighbor's lawn obsession (and tendency to yell out at grass-offending children through his window), that they decided to offer the man a bit of entertainment in return. Anne pulled one of her Sunday dresses over Evan's head and one of their mother's nylon stockings over his face, squishing his features. Then, with great and exaggerated delicacy, the two managed to make it all the way from the sidewalk to the man's front porch without their feet ever touching even one blade of his precious grass. Anne then, with a very serious expression on her face, rang the doorbell and waited politely. When the man opened the door, she hugged Evan towards her and proceeded to explain that her little sister "Evelyn" only ever had marshmallows to eat and that what they really needed was two dollars. The man paused, opened his mouth, shut it, and then turned around to find some cash.

They attended Emerson Elementary School near 11th East and 13th South and learned to navigate off the beaten route of the walk to and from school. A favorite destination became the 7-Eleven on 9th East and 13th South where they'd purchase Slurpees and Big League Chew bubblegum. The Big League Chew doubled as relish for bubblegum hotdogs made with squashed Bubblicious cubes as buns, and, when Evan and Anne could find them among the penny candies at the Rexall Drugstore on 9th and 9th, hot-dog-shaped-and-colored gum.

On the Fourth of July, once a sparkler was lit, one child could run far and fast, dancing the sparkler into the air as they ran. But as soon as that first sparkler burned out, that child had to stop on a dime and wait to be rescued by the other with a sparkler that was still burning, saving the moment by helping to light a new sparkler for the child who was stuck in order to allow that child to run freely again.

Evan and Anne regularly baked Toll House oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and Betty Crocker blueberry muffins. They always left extra dough in the bowl and ate it by the spoonful (often wondering about Salmonella) while playing their own version of Uno that they had dubbed "Oh-no," requiring a hand of at least 30 cards (70 was better) and having a long set of newly invented complicated yet not-so-complicated rules. The game was fast and fun.

When Evan was around the age of 10, he and Anne created their own several-step handshake that, in addition to multiple hand slaps and spins, included bouncing their bodies up and down while saying "er... er... er... er... er..." in vocal imitation of the family's dot matrix printer (named "Rutherford"), and then tilting their bodies forward at the waist, rising their right arms as if they were cheering at a sporting event, all while, in a nasally voice, repeating "Go Utes, Running Utes," mocking a pseudo-sports fan they had once observed less than enthusiastically cheer for the University of Utah. Whatever they witnessed, they found enjoyment in, and then synthesized into their games and play.

In the final moments of his life, Evan may have felt as if he had left nothing of value on this planet behind him. If so, he would have been very sorely mistaken. His presence in his sister's childhood made the kind of impact that changed her life purpose and direction so significantly that he lives on in her, all of her work and in her own children, who survive him and love him immeasurably, while also feeling happy for him that he could be released from the extremity of his suffering.

Evan made Anne's childhood more than endurable - he made it beautiful. He will always be remembered and, again, very literally, his life lives on in her neurodiversity work. He made an impact very much worth living for.

The McMullins were members of the LeGrande Ward of Salt Lake City's LDS Park Stake until Evan was almost 11, and then moved across 9th East into the 31st Ward. Evan was a graduate of East High School and held bachelor's degrees from the University of Utah in history and political science with minors in economics and international relations. Professionally, he was a real estate investor. He spoke fluent Spanish and loved soccer. He adored cats and would put them on leashes so they could safely take walks outside.

He is survived by his parents, all four of his older siblings, eight nieces, two nephews, and his ex-wife. In his better years, he was known for being a very creative and playful uncle, passing on some of the joy he had learned during childhood.

Memorial services will be held near Boston, Massachusetts in early August. Please email Anne at annejanai@gmail.com if you are interested in attending.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Humane Society of Utah.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1 800 656-4673

Autism Society National Helpline: 1 800 3-AUTISM