Evelyn’s parents were Royal and Annie Luther, who were stationed at Fort Georges in Portland Harbor, due to Royal’s employment in the Lighthouse Service. The Luther’s finally moved ashore and bought a home on Adam’s Street which was located on Munjoy Hill in Portland, ME. Their four children were born in Portland - Annie, Fred, Willard, and Evelyn. Later, Royall’s job transferred him to the Boston Office of the Lighthouse Service and he chose to move to Malden, MA, because it had the best transportation nearby to get him into the city, but his children wouldn’t have to live in the city. The Luther children went to the Judson Street School, and then Belmont School (up to grade six), which was located on Ashland Street.
Evelyn Luther and neighborhood friend, Earl Pratt, attended and graduated from Malden High School. There was two years difference between them and Earl sat behind Evelyn in class. In a bid to show his affection for her, dipped her long braids in the inkwell in his desk. Evelyn was furious at him and she wouldn’t talk to him anymore. A few years later, Earl heard Evelyn was moving to Maine and showed up on her door step with a gold signet ring and told her, “Don’t forget about me.”
The Luther family moved back to Portland, ME (Near the current Maine Medical Center) and Earl would visit Evelyn often. Royal liked it that Earl and Frank Connor were courting his daughters, not just because he liked the young men, but because he was building the stone steps in front of his home on Southport Island, and he put them to work. Earl’s and Frank’s initials are embedded in the cement with small stones as a testament to their hard work. (Currently Chris and Ruth White’s home.)
On January 10, 1917, Earl and Evelyn were married in Portland, ME, and moved to Malden, MA. In 1918, Earl, Jr. was born and when his sister, Evelyn, was born nine years later, they moved to Chamberlain Place in Malden, MA. While expecting her second child, Evelyn Luther Pratt, strategically remained in Southport, as the weather was still good in September of 1927, and as a result, Little Evelyn was born at St. Andrews Hospital in Boothbay Harbor, ME.
Evelyn was a very genteel person and she loved to garden. She had some flowers in the vegetable garden and when Earl didn’t quite approve she would say, “Now Earl, that’s soul food.” She was an excellent cook and loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren who called her Ma.
Evelyn and Earl’s cottage on Cozy Harbor Road was formerly a store, until Evelyn’s father, Royal Luther, had it moved from the shore and renovated it into Earl and Evelyn’s cottage. Earl ran The Alley (a.k.a. Earl W. Pratt Mercantile or Cozy Harbor Pavilion), and Evelyn helped keep the books and her delicious homemade apple pies were a favorite with all their customers. Evelyn was widowed at a young age when Earl, Sr. died unexpectedly of a heart attack in the Southport Yacht Club on July 4, 1947.
In the early 1970s, Evelyn moved to Southport Island permanently and had a winter home built. The family cottage was very old and was torn down, and her son-in-law, Maurice Sherman, finished the new home for her, even taking the beams out of the old cottage and installing them in the living room of the new house so she would still feel like she had a part of her cottage.
Evelyn was an active member of the Southport Yacht Club, Southport Methodist Church, and United Methodist Women. She received the Boston Post Cane in 1987 and passed away in 1990 at the age of 99.