Body Recovered From Pond

Wednesday began like any other day for Tom and Beverly Guire: Get out of bed, stretch, glance out the window to gauge the weather.

But the view outside was their first indication that this was not going to be an ordinary day. Parked on the edge of the shallow pond behind their house was a golf cart.

That was different, but not necessarily unusual because golf carts are always roaming the shaded streets of Clover Leaf Farms, north of Brooksville. Then Beverly Guire went to another window to get a better look. She squinted.

"Dear, I think there's a body out there," she said.

Her husband grabbed his slippers and hurried outside their Clare Court home, frosty grass crunching underfoot. Guire trailed behind him, dialing 911.

As they reached the shore, it was obvious that Guire was right. Floating in the still green water about eight feet from shore was a body. Tom Guire went to grab his sneakers, then waded out into the knee-deep water. By the time he returned with the body, a swarm of fire engines and police had arrived.

There was no reason to attempt resuscitation.

A maintenance worker recognized the golf cart parked at a slant on the shore. It was Frank Evans'.

Word spread quickly in this community of mobile homes and trailers. Evans' ex-wife and her family members were looking for him. They had arrived the night before to travel with him to his former home in Flint, Mich. His flight left Wednesday morning.

Fire engines passed their search party. Somehow they knew it involved Evans, 61.

They turned on to Clare Court. Police had roped off the area with crime scene tape. Then they saw the body on the bank. Laura Garnett Evans took a look and told police she was certain it was the man she had known for 42 years.

What could have led to the death is still under investigation, but Police Chief George Turner said "all indications are that this was accidental." The last time Garnett Evans saw him was around 10 p.m. He had left to see someone.

A maintenance man at the scene noticed that there were no tire tracks in the morning frost, indicating the cart had approached the pond sometime in the night.

"We don't know what happened," Garnett Evans said.

Near Evans' home lives his girlfriend, Beverly Morgan, who has dated him three years. They spent time together watching NASCAR races. He liked Tony Stewart. She rooted for Kurt Busch. He reminded Morgan of comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

He talked loud after years of shouting over machinery at the Michigan assembly plant where he worked. Evans was short in stature, but he had a big heart.

"He just had a good nature about him," Morgan said. "He was so sweet."

When his grandkids came to visit, he was always proud to show them around and take them swimming and fishing. He is also survived by a son and a daughter.