Harriette Evans died on Jan. 13. She was 97 and had been a longtime summer resident of Oak Bluffs.

She was born on March 23, 1922, along with a twin brother, Harold, in Akron Ohio to Sally Fisher and Harold Clark.

She married the love of her life, the Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Evans in October 1944. He predeceased her in April 2008. They were married for 64 years.

Harriette attended Dunbar High School in Washington D.C. and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin. She was a classically trained ballet dancer and was the first chairman of the Washington Children’s Theatre in 1939. She went on to join the American Ballet Company in New York city.

Along with her husband, a pastor in the Congregational-United Church of Christ, she devoted her life to ministering and mentoring the many members of their congregations and the communities in which they lived. She opened her own ballet studio in 1952 in Chicago, Ill., and taught numerous young girls the joys and grace of ballet. She was also the coordinator for several Link’s Cotillions as the young women were presented to society.

Harriette and her family lived in Chicago, Ill., before moving to St. Albans N.Y., Brookline and Sarasota, Fla., where they spent their retirement years. Martha’s Vineyard was always her second home. Since 1952, she spent each summer in Oak Bluffs, and in 1955 she became a founding member of The Cottagers Inc., a historic nonprofit organization of African-American women homeowners on Martha’s Vineyard.

She is survived by her three daughters Lesley Christian, Harriette Smith and Barbara Edelin; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren as well as a host of other family members and friends. A celebration of life will be announced by the family.