Sheila Evjy ’74, H.D. ’19
Trustee
Saint Anselm College
A SHARED PURPOSE
Sheila Evjy ’74, H.D. ’19 and her husband Jack Evjy, M.D. have committed their lives to being there for each other, their patients, and the future of medicine. At the heart of all of this is Saint Anselm College.
Sheila and Jack never would have met if not for Saint Anselm College. After working as a nurse for a few years, Sheila enrolled in the college’s registered nurse to Bachelor of Science program. For the next two years, she not only took classes at the college, but also spent her weekends working at the on-campus infirmary.
Near the end of her time at the college, she was able to choose her clinical placement and decided to work with an oncology practice in Massachusetts. One of the practice’s physicians was Jack Evjy, M.D. During the semester, she worked with Jack and the other physicians at many different hospitals, where they included her in the full treatment and decision process. After her placement was over, Sheila and Jack kept in touch and eventually married. They’ve been married 46 years, and their shared devotion to patients has been at the heart of their relationship.
“We were a family committed to helping cancer patients and their families through a very difficult time,” says Jack. “[We were] two people who fell in love because of the tragedy of so many lives. We found each other at the bedside, and decided to spend the rest of our lives together.”
As the medical field continues to be on the forefront of science and technology, both Sheila and Jack believe that a grounding in humanity becomes even more important.
“The heart and the humanity of medicine is in the hands of the nursing profession,” says Jack. “You take someone who will walk the road of life with a patient at the bedside working hand in hand with the people in the laboratory to bring the totality of our human capacity to make things better. In many ways, it has been the story of our life together.”
This story previously appeared in the Fall/Winter 2024 issue of Portraits magazine.