A family with deep roots to Deer Isle is hoping to turn tragedy into hope and help for those struggling with alcohol dependency.
Trammell Evans, a 25-year-old who grew up spending summers on Little Deer Isle, went missing in April 2023 while on a backpacking trip through the high desert of California. His remains were discovered in January of this year.
Now the family of the man known as “Tram” have launched a nonprofit organization to educate people about alcoholism and the dangers of alcohol addiction withdrawal — the cause of his death.
“We want something good to come out of this,” his mother, Amy deGozzaldi Evans, said Sept. 10 in an interview.
Evans’ disappearance in April 2023 was reported by news media in Southern California, where he was hiking in Joshua Tree National Park when he went missing, and in Jacksonville, Florida, where the Evans family lives six months each year. His disappearance and death were not previously reported by Maine news media.
Evans and his two brothers grew up spending every summer in the family home near Swain’s Cove on Little Deer Isle, just as his mother and other members of the family had since Amy’s great-grandmother bought property there in 1913. Like his grandfather, Philip deGozzaldi, Evans was an avid sailor, competing with the Bucks Harbor Yacht Club team and then working as a sailing instructor there for several years. He also competed along with his father in several Newport-to-Bermuda sailboat races.
Evans graduated from Episcopal High School in Jacksonville and then four years later — during the COVID-19 pandemic — from Florida State University. A job offer he had received was withdrawn as a result of the pandemic. Alcoholism runs in the family, his mother said, and Evans began drinking heavily, especially after moving to Austin, Texas, to be close to friends. He began binge drinking and would disappear for weeks at a time, turning off his mobile phone to avoid being reached. Finally, his mother and brother convinced him to enter a detoxification program in Portland.
He completed seven days, but then refused to continue. Evans then decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. He completed the full 2,193 miles and formed a relationship with a woman he met on the trail, which then led to a move to California to join her. He was sober and appeared to be recovering from his alcohol addiction, his mother said.
But in April 2023, Tram briefly broke up with his girlfriend and relapsed. He resumed binge drinking, then quickly told others he wanted to get sober again — on his own, without entering a detox program.
“Drop me off at Joshua Tree. I will hike until I get sober,” he said, according to his mother. That was the last time he was seen alive.
In January of this year, scientists doing research in the area where Evans was last seen hiking found his backpack, then park rangers found his remains soon after. Along with his backpack and camping equipment, park rangers found Evans’ personal journal, which he wrote in regularly, his mother said. The last entries were: “I am having seizures” and “Love is what life is about.”
In the aftermath, Evans’ mother and other family members have created the Tram Evans North Star Foundation in his memory. Its mission is to educate people about the dangers of alcohol use disorder and alcohol withdrawal syndrome and to provide support to people and their families suffering from them. The founders have created a website, tensfoundation.org, and are working with substance abuse experts to create at least 20 educational videos, which they plan to distribute via social media and in schools.
“Our mission is to educate people,” Amy Evans said. “Ninety-five percent of people don’t know this, that you can die from alcohol withdrawal syndrome. We want to reach as many people as possible with this information. And we want to help people get sober safely.”
The foundation held one event on Deer Isle in July: a volunteer cleanup effort on Crow Island south of Little Deer Isle, which was Tram Evans’ favorite island for camping. They plan to repeat the event annually, his mother said.
This story appears through a media partnership with the Penobscot Bay Press.
