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Robert A. Evans had been fishing for a week in San Carlos, Mexico, with his daughter Pam Crone and good friend Steve Patterson.

Evans caught a dorado and a marlin, among other fish, and had installed a new Global Positioning System device in the boat he kept on the beach.

"He was thrilled because it was working so well," Crone said.

But almost without warning, Evans' happiness and an idyllic time on the ocean came to an end.

Evans, a longtime teacher, principal and administrator for Albuquerque Public Schools, died of a heart attack on the morning of June 5. He was 82.

Crone said on the morning Evans died, one of the last things he said to his daughter was "rise and shine, hit the deck running."

"He was as happy as he could be, fishing," Crone said.

Evans, known to his friends as Bob, was born March 16, 1925, in Camden, N.J. He grew up in New Jersey, picking strawberries in the fields.

He later attended the University of New Mexico, where he met Sally, the woman who would be his wife of 61 years. He enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps while Sally Evans was in general studies.

Bob Evans served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1949. During his military stint, he contracted polio in the Philippines and was paralyzed for a time, his daughter Peggy Moore said.

Evans was discharged from the Navy and was treated in California. He left a rehabilitation hospital in Corona, Calif., after about a year and got around on crutches.

"My mother helped him over the next few years," said Moore. "Some of the therapies that helped him was raising a vegetable garden because he used to get on his hands and knees."

Evans - who eventually was able to walk without crutches - didn't lose his passion for gardening. During his life, he planted between 200 and 300 fruit trees and shared the bounty with friends and neighbors. He won first- and second-place ribbons at the State Fair for his apples.

Evans graduated from UNM in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in education and received his master's degree in arts in 1955. He went into education - and in many ways, took his family with him.

"Education was very important for both of them. It was a really high priority," Moore said of her parents. In 1952, Robert taught sixth grade at Longfellow Elementary School in Downtown. He later transferred to Lincoln Junior High School, where he began as a math teacher but finished as the school's principal.

In 1966, Evans opened West Mesa High School as principal and worked there until 1974. He worked as the school district's assistant superintendent of maintenance and operations from 1974 until his retirement in 1985.

Moore said her father's interest in education made him a respected and well-liked member of the community.

"He almost always recognized them (students) and often remembered interactions with them from work," she said.

Evans was involved in a variety of charities, including Guide Dogs for the Blind, New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranches and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He also supported local food banks and breast cancer research.

His daughters said they remember their father as the center and strength of the family and a person everyone looked up to.

"He always had ideas and opinion about things in your life, things that you should do and things you should take care of," said Moore.

She added that family members often recall one of Evans' favorite sayings: "There's only one way - my way."

A graveside service will be held June 14 at Santa Fe National Cemetery. A memorial service will be held June 15 at 2 p.m. at French Mortuary's Wyoming Boulevard Chapel.

Evans is survived by his wife, Sally; daughters Patricia Gardner Evans, Pamela Crone and Peggy Moore, and a son, Peter Evans.