KARE Anchor Pat Evans took three months off to take care for his 95-year-old mother and he fully expected to return to the station that he worked at for more than 25 years.

But now he has confirmed that he has left the station and has moved to California.

For Evans, family comes first.

But, he says he is not retiring from TV news. “… after 12 weeks, I had exhausted my unpaid family leave. The station wanted me to come back, but my mom and my responsibilities are here.”

John Remes, KARE’s general manager, said he understood his friend’s choice. “Unfortunately, he can’t be in two places at once,” Remes said. “He made a family-before-career decision, which I totally respect.”

His mom, who had relocated to Palm Springs two years ago, was hospitalized in January with pneumonia. “It became necessary for me to be here more,” said Evans, whose father passed away in 2017. “She’s particularly vulnerable with the coronavirus out there. She’s fragile. It’s a big hit economically, but I don’t have much of a choice. It’s my responsibility.”

“I want to let people know how much I appreciated them,” he said. “They say you leave your heart in San Francisco. But a big piece of my heart is in Minnesota.”

H/T Star Tribune