In Memoriam: Jan Magee Evers
Published on Monday, May 19, 2025
The Medical Center extends its sympathy to the family of a former faculty member in appreciation for the loved one’s contributions to the academic health sciences center.
Jan Magee Evers
Jan Magee Evers, a nursing educator, administrator and practitioner, whose long history with the University of Mississippi Medical Center was marked by service and devotion, died on May 5, 2025, in Jackson.
A native of Tylertown, she came to Jackson in 1957 after completing pre-nursing courses at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Upon graduation from nursing school, she spent 15 years as a nursing supervisor at University Hospital. During her student days, she met her husband of 32 years, Dr. Carl G. Evers, who was a resident at the time. They married and had three children.
She completed her master’s degree in 1975 and joined the School of Nursing faculty. Evers launched the school’s first continuing education program. The faculty and students at the Medical Center recognized and acknowledged her competence and leadership in all nursing activities. She was a brilliant teacher and an example to her students and fellow faculty.
In alumni activities, she served twice as president of the nursing alumni chapter of the Ole Miss Alumni Association and as a member of its board. In 2011, she was named Nursing Alumni of the Year. She was chair of the University of Mississippi Guardian Society and was active in the Mississippi Nursing Association Foundation.
After Carl Evers died in 1992, she established the Carl G. Evers Award, a scholarship given yearly to outstanding medical students who demonstrate interest in organized medicine and activities of the Mississippi State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. She has lent her support to the Carl G. Evers, MD, Society, an honorary service organization that seeks to improve medical education at UMMC primarily through the evaluation of coursework required in the preclinical and clinical years of medical school. Additionally, she established the Jan M. Evers Faculty Fellowship Research Award in the School of Nursing.
Evers also donated her husband's medical library to UMMC's Rowland Medical Library – 107 leather-bound volumes accented in gold leaf that range from Old English texts to the writings of Hippocrates.
“I had the pleasure and honor of knowing Jan and Carl while in medical school in the ’60s,” said Dr. James E. Keeton, professor emeritus and a former vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at UMMC. “Jan was a nurse, so, I knew and saw her when I was on the clinical floors, and Carl was my teacher in pathology. The two of them made a real difference in health care in Mississippi, and especially at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The world is a better place because they both decided to devote their lives to health care. I am honored to have known both for over 50 years.”
Evers presented many workshops around the country offering continuing education for nurses and health-related professionals in the nursing care of AIDS patients.
In a 2010 UMMC report, retired nursing professor Jeanette Waits said she met Jan Evers in nursing school and the two remained friends. She said her work in developing the school's continuing education program was pioneering.
"I thought she brought a lot of quality and class to our continuing education offering," she said.
A talented musician, she served as dean of the Jackson Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and sang with the Jackson Choral Society and the parish choir of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at noon on Tuesday, July 29, at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church with visitation preceding at 11 a.m.
Memorials may be sent to the UMMC Office of Development- Carl G. Evers, MD, Society, 2500 North State St., Jackson, MS 39216 or St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 5400 Old Canton Rd., Jackson, MS 39211.