Newport Beach’s ‘Sweetheart’ Dead at 91 

Newport Beach’s ‘Sweetheart’ Dead at 91 
Evelyn Hart with her dog, Lady Jane, adopted from Newport Beach Animal Shelter. Courtesy of Robyn Grant
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Evelyn Reese Hart—often referred to as one of Newport Beach’s “great dames” and “sweetheart”—died peacefully Nov. 23 after a recent stroke. She was 91.

Born Willie Evelyn Reese on Jan. 24, 1931, in Phoenix, Arizona, Hart moved to Newport Beach in the 1950s.