When Unity Township tax collector Mark Burkardt takes his grandchildren to the newly renamed Bob Evancho Lakeside Park, he hopes his grandchildren will ask who Bob Evancho was.
“I’ll be happy to tell them that he was my friend,” Burkardt said.
On Saturday, the township supervisors officially dedicated Lakeside Park in Evancho’s name. Evancho, who died in April 2020, served as township maintenance man for 15 years and helped keep up the park grounds.
Family, friends and local officials spent the sunny morning cherishing Evancho’s memory and impact. The dedication ceremony paired as opportunity for many to pay their respects and celebrate Evancho’s life, as he died during the early onset of the coronavirus pandemic and was unable to have a large funeral.
“We’re here today to recognize that being a good man, husband, father, brother, friend, Christian and American is something that is very special,” said Burkardt, who was close friends with Evancho.
Born in 1945, Evancho served in the Vietnam War and was a member of the Disabled American Veterans. He became a welder before serving as township maintenance man until his retirement in 2007. He was a member of St. Vincent Basilica Parish in Latrobe.
“He loved God,” Burkardt said. “A lot of people go to church, but Bob practiced what they preached. Bob was someone who would give you the shirt off his back even if it was the last one he had.”
Burkardt also noted Evancho’s love for horse racing, and the tax collector elicited laughs from the crowd when he said Evancho taught him how to bet.
Many of Evancho’s family members, including his wife, Eileen, attended Saturday’s dedication. Evancho’s sister-in-law, Wanda Evancho, said Evancho could become friends “with anybody.”
“If you had a bad day at work and you happened to talk to Bob, he would make you laugh so hard that at times you’d have tears coming out of your eyes just from laughing,” Wanda said. “That was his nature.”
Supervisor Mike O’Barto, who worked with Evancho for several years, said the maintenance man had a strong commitment to his family and job.
“He was one of those individuals who you meet for the first time and say to yourself, ‘Wow, I’ve never met anyone like him before,’ ” O’Barto said.
After the supervisors unveiled the park’s new sign, attendees laughed and chatted while enjoying refreshments.
Burkardt hopes the Bob Evancho Lakeside Park continues the legacy that Evancho started.
“For many years to come, Bob Evancho Lakeside Park will be a place that will bring happiness and joy to many men, women and children,” he said, “just like Bob did to us.”
