Evangeline Getzen

1930 - 2024

Evangeline Getzen

April 22, 1930 - January 29, 2024

Atlanta, Georgia - After almost 94 years and a legendary run as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother, Evangeline Sferes Getzen passed from this world on Monday, January 29th, 2024. Born in Gorham, Maine and a long-time resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, Evangeline (Vangie) and her husband of 68 years, Forrest William Getzen, lived at Canterbury Court in Atlanta, Georgia for the last eight years.

On April 22nd of 1930, as the Great Depression deepened, Vangie brought sunshine to her parents, proud Greek immigrants. Growing up in Maine, she was an exceptionally dutiful daughter, working in her father George's grocery store, taking Greek lessons in Portland so her mother Anna could shop for clothes, attending the Greek church to honor both parents, and in high school, serving as captain of the girls' basketball team. She bravely blazed her own path to Colby College where she flourished as a Tri-Delt sister, served as literary editor of college yearbook, The Oracle and exchange editor of the college newspaper, The Colby Echo, and as a member of the Outing Club, the Yacht Club, and the International Relations Debate Club. Following graduation and with $25 in her pocket from her mother, Vangie set out for Boston, Massachusetts, where she landed a job as a junior editor for a technical science publication. To bolster greater command of the magazine's subject matter, she promptly headed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to audit a chemistry class. Not long into the semester, graduate teaching assistant Forrest Getzen offered his services to Vangie-schooling her on the periodic table of elements and chemical combinations of all sorts. Vangie's reaction to Forrest was instantaneous and so began a 70-year romance. Together, they circumnavigated the Earth by boat, by train, by plane, and by automobile, landing in Kabul, Afghanistan for four years in the 1960s with their three young children. There, Forrest taught chemistry at Kabul University, one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the country. Throughout their time in Afghanistan, the Getzens traveled extensively, once getting caught up in warfare between Pakistan and India while on an Easter Break outing to Kashmir. It remains incredible to all that the Easter Bunny found his way to the houseboat Forrest and Vangie rented for their stay in Kashmir-leaving a trail of chocolate eggs and marshmallow chicks to the delighted Getzen children.

Once back stateside, Vangie managed her household on Banbury Road in Raleigh. During this time, she became a docent of the North Carolina Museum of Art, providing tours and lectures to school children and others of its many collections well into her retirement. As her children entered high school, Vangie entered the workforce-beginning as a secretary with North Carolina's Department of Environment, eventually working her way up to the department's program director of Women, Infants and Children (WIC). During her twenty years with the state, she earned her Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree at NC State University, paving the way for her daughter to secure the same degree years later. Upon her retirement from the state and Forrest's retirement from NC State University, the pair took up traveling the world again-cruising through the Panama Canal and around the entire continent of South America, along with various trips through Canada, to Alaska, and along the east and west coasts of the United States. In 2016, the Getzens sold their Banbury Road home of 58 years and traveled to Atlanta, settling into their apartment at Canterbury Court and filling it with the many treasures they collected from around the globe.

Vangie loved all creatures and especially cats of multiple varieties. She adored her many Siamese cats over the years that included seal points, chocolate points, blue points and for a brief period, lilac points. Perhaps her dearest feline was Mr. Rogers, a stray mix from unknown points, who took refuge one evening on the Getzen's back porch. Vangie, without her contacts in, noticed a cat peering into the house and of course, opened the door. This cool cat in a distinctive grey sweater sauntered in and remained in residence for over 20 years. Vangie's love of cats was inherited by her granddaughter Anna who studies ringtail cats in the wild and often shared pictures of her research with her grandmother. On Vangie's 93rd birthday last year, Anna rented Abe Lincoln, a very satisfactory orange American short-haired cat, for the day, and brought him to her birthday party. Abe was a tremendous hit with Vangie, remaining on her lap for well over an hour in tribute to her many decades of service to the family Felidae.

Vangie will be missed terribly for her quick wit, her rock-solid opinions, her fierce loyalty to family and friends, and more love that could ever be contained in a tiny Greek body that belied her enormous spirit. She leaves behind her devoted husband, Forrest, her three grateful children and their spouses, Hart (Brooke), Katherine (Dan), and Peter, six blessed grandchildren, (Charlie and David; Forrest, Hart and Anna; and Bryce), her sister, Kathy, and many nieces and nephews.

A Service in Remembrance of Vangie will be held on Friday, February 2nd, 2024 at 4:00 PM in the Chapel of Canterbury Court. Those wishing to honor her memory are encouraged to donate to The American Humane Society or a charity of their choice. Vangie's family is forever grateful to the Canterbury Court team, including Jonathan, Bola, Jackie, Robert, Dara, the two Erins, and so many others as well as Atlanta Hospice, for their exceptional care of the Getzens.