
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990                   TAG: 9004080255
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TOPEKA, KAN.                                LENGTH: Short

APOLLO 17 ASTRONAUT DIES OF HEART ATTACK

Ronald E. Evans, who was Apollo 17 command module pilot on man's last trip to the moon, died of a heart attack at his Arizona home Saturday. He was 56.

The former astronaut died in his sleep and was found by his wife, Janet, his mother-in-law, Marge Pollom, told the The Topeka Capital-Journal.

Evans called his December 1972 flight to the moon in Apollo 17 "the best experience I ever had in my life."

He left the astronaut program in 1977 to become an officer with Western American Energy Corp. in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was in demand as a public speaker and traveled widely.

Evans was born in St. Francis, Kan., and later lived in Topeka, Kan.

He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas in 1956 and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1964. He became an astronaut in 1966.

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