Former first lady of the Virgin Islands, Mary Phyllis Evans, died Friday in Virginia. She was the wife of the late governor, delegate to Congress, and U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Melvin Evans.

“My condolences are extended to my friends; their four sons, Melvin Jr., Robert, William and Cornelius; and the entire Evans family circle,” Delegate Donna M. Christensen said in a press release issued Tuesday.

Evans was a nurse working at a New York Hospital when she met her husband to be, who was a doctor.

She was a nurse by training, but she truly relished the role of being a wife and mother, Christensen said.

“To me she was ‘Aunt Phyllis’ as she and my mother were very close friends. We spent many afternoons in the Evans home,” Christensen said.

Governor John P. deJongh Jr. offered condolences to her family members.

“On behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, I extend heartfelt sympathies to her sons as well as the extended Evans family,” deJongh said.

Melvin Evans was the last appointed and first elected governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, serving from 1969 to 1975. He served as delegate to Congress from 1979 to 1981 and U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago from 1981 to 1984. He died in 1984.