A Blood woman, Evelyn was named Princess Wapiti and adopted by the Blackfoot (Siksika), Blood (Kainai), Peigan (Piikani), Sarcee (Tsuut'ina) and Stoney (Nakoda) tribes in a ceremony organized by the Calgary Elks Lodge No. 4, her sponsors in the 1954 Calgary Stampede Queen contest, which she later won. Her white buckskin dress was made by her mother and aunt using traditional Blood designs. The five feathers in her headdress symbolized her adoption by the five Nations.