Editor, Gazette-Journal:

It must have been 25 years ago.  I was working on a Saturday at the Rosewell Foundation Visitor’s Center—upstairs in the office.  I heard the door open and someone came in.  “I’ll be right down,” I called. “That’s all right, it’s only me, Hairy Earl,” he answered. What in the world? Hairy Earl? And that is who I found standing at the front desk. A large man with long, gray hair wearing leathers.

Earl Evans turned out to be a gift from heaven. He was enthusiastic about Rosewell and what we were doing. He dropped in that day to let me know that he wanted to help in any way that he could. He had the heart of a true volunteer—in fact, he introduced himself to me then as “the best volunteer in Gloucester County!”

He lived nearby and whenever there was a bad storm he would slip over to make sure that there was no damage to the site. When there were tree limbs down or when night ...