Evelyn Chisolm Cassels-Smith de Gast was many things to many people. Most importantly a Mother, a Wife, Grandmother, Aunt and a friend. She was born to George and Evelyn Cassels-Smith on March 14, 1935 in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in Ruxton, Maryland with her brother, George H. CasselsSmith (Jeremy Brown). She graduated from Garrison Forest and attended two years of college. Evelyn, aka: Linda married Kenneth Graeme Menzies on March 15, 1957. They were married for 13 years. She is survived by their two children Evelyn Trenholm Menzies Naeny (Carter Naeny) and Kenneth Graeme Menzies, Jr. (Peggy Pedone).

On September 16, 1971, she married Robert de Gast and was blessed with three stepchildren Makaria de Gast (Tom Jayne), Sabrina de Gast and Justin de Gast (Debra Cybulski).

She is survived by four grandchildren, Thomas Dyson Naeny, Evelyn Alden Naeny, Kenneth Graeme Menzies, III (Melissa Agnostak) and Kirstin Nina Menzies (Jordan Miller) and one great grandchild, David Asher Miller. There are four step grandchildren Karsyn de Gast, Cameron de Gast, Tyler Jayne and Greta Glaeser.

Evelyn will be remembered for her loving spirit and thirst for adventures. She worked in marketing for McCormick and for the Rouse Co. where was given the task of uniquely naming the streets of Columbia, Md.

Eventually, she took up her passion for flying and got her pilots license. Flying her plane up from the lower Eastern Shore of VA, she got to be present for the birth of her grandchildren. She flew for pleasure and flew for the Coast Guard in Virginia. She loved living on the Eastern Shore where she made many lifelong friends. She enjoyed becoming a realtor, renovating houses, sailing, and writing. She sailed the lakes through Finland for Sail Magazine and for Cruising Yachtsman writing about Smith Island: Quiet Retreat and other stories. As a writer/editor, she worked on various books with Robert, such as Oystermen of the Chesapeake, Lighthouses of The Chesapeake and Doors of San Miguel.

After moving to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where she resided for more than 10 years, she continued her writing, and created and marketed her own line of beautiful handmade jewelry. She met the most amazing friends and grew her passion for drawing and painting. There she became a hot air balloon pilot and loved the next phase of flying. One of her accomplishments was sailing the Intercostal Water Ways and writing The Thin Magenta Line which she co-authored with Robert de Gast.

Many of Evelyn's endeavors were a first for women of her time.

"In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things and happy in small ways." Edith Wharton