Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: I read that you, and I think Dan, too, are both people who like to read in bed and
stay up late.
Evans: Yes. Still. I cannot go to bed and turn off the light.
Hughes: Are you reading a book or are you watching Jay Leno?
Evans: Usually the TV isn’t even on. We read and do New York Times puzzles, or Sudoku.
Hughes: Were there a lot of times during those 12 years he was governor that Dan would
come home and say, “You’re not going to believe what they did to me today”?
Evans: Well, yeah, occasionally, sure. Sometimes we’d have those discussions – not
necessarily in bed.
Hughes: What time were you getting up in the morning if you’re staying up late?
Evans: Fairly early because the kids went to school.
Hughes: I found out that you are a good writer.
Evans: No, I’m not!
Hughes: Well, in 1966 you wrote a really good piece for Puget Soundings, whatever that was.
Evans: Oh, that was sort of an eight-page paper, a weekly. And it was like what you might
find on the Internet today – like “ Crosscut,” which I subscribe to.
Hughes: Well, I thought you wrote a really good piece for Puget Soundings. It says, “When
asked what it was like to be the wife of the governor, I used to reply that it’s really no
different than being the wife of any man. I now have changed my answer and say that
it’s really no different than being the wife of any hard-working, never home, usually tired,
sometimes depressed, responsibility-laden man. And I have no doubt that in these modern
times most wives would include themselves in that that same category.” And then there’s
this wonderful story you tell: “Almost every morning when my husband is breakfasting with
our two sons and is about to leave for the Capitol, our youngest son Mark, who is two-anda-half,
asks, ‘Are you going to the capitol daddy?’ And Dan replies, ‘Yes.’ Knowing that the
next question will be, ‘Are you coming back daddy?’ It sounds a little fatalistic, but I’m sure
it must seem to Mark that his daddy does not come back for many days, as often he does
not return until long after the boys are in bed. And sometimes, of course, he does not
return for several days. And then I think, ‘What a shame he can’t spend more time with
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