Larry C. Evans

Larry C. Evans knows firsthand about country schools. He attended a one-room school in northern Missouri for eight years.

He remembers carving his initials in the outhouse door, smelling the freshly varnished floor on the first day of school in the fall, and getting wet and cold from playing "fox and geese" in the new fallen snow on the schoolyard. But most important to him is the camaraderie and lifelong relationships made in the one-room schoolhouse.

His rural school days helped prepare him for continued education at Truman State University, known at the time as Northeast Missouri State University, Kirksville, Missouri. Evans holds a B.S.Ed. and M.A. in history, and B.S. in accounting.

In 2012, he self-published The Way We Were: A History of Troy Mills School and Community. His other writings include local history and genealogy.

Evans and co-writer Vivian Vice Wright are currently working on a companion book of photographs and memories. A Pictorial History of Rural Schools: Adair County, Missouri, will be available spring 2017.