Community celebrates the life of Evelyn Mount

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) -It’s hard to overstate Evelyn Mount’s impact on the lives of Reno’s disadvantaged or her place in the community’s heart.

We could mark the approach of the holidays by her calls to the newsroom reminding us and our audience of the need and the empty space in the pantry she made of her garage.

If asked, she would tell you the impulse was borne of her upbringing, a family tradition and commitment in rural Louisiana.

Before they’d sit down to dinner, she once told us, the kids would be sent to check on neighbors to make sure they had something to eat and if they didn’t, “We’d have to cook them food and take it to them, come back and pray before we could eat.”

In time she would make many of us part of that tradition, inspiring a small army of volunteers and donations large and small.

She rarely spoke of times when she and her husband financed early efforts with their Social Security checks. And, in later years, she seemed grateful but unsurprised when others joined her in helping to feed thousands.

Her passing shortly before Christmas left a hole in the heart of the community. So, it was no surprise Friday that many she had inspired and, perhaps a few she helped, showed up at northwest Reno’s Grace Church to remember the grandmother who had fed so many.

There were prayers, proclamations, and personal stories.

“Today, we’re here because of grace that was on her life as we’re celebrating that life and legacy,” said Pastor DeSean Horne.

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