Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Evans: No. It was organized (in 1963) to raise money for the arts. What does it stand
for? It’s “ Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations.” And they’re
having a little difficultly right now just because of the money situation with the recession.
But they have huge, huge auctions. I thought that that would be a great thing for Olympia.
We invited our friends who had started PONCHO to come down. We met with a number
of people in the Mansion ballroom and they talked to us about how it’s done. We got
organized and did it initially every year. Then I think it went to every two years. They had it
at Tyee or some big venue, and raised a lot of money for the arts.
Hughes: I remember vividly covering the Legislature in 1968, and in terms of cultural
events and arts, Olympia didn’t seem to be any more special than Aberdeen.
Evans: Well, we were struggling. Another thing I got involved with and helped bring
to Olympia was Planned Parenthood. There was a group of us. We brought down the
director of Planned Parenthood in Seattle, Lee Minto, and then Suzanne Cluett, who was
her assistant. That was hard work because it took money and lots of planning. They came
down to Olympia once a week for a while for a 7 o’clock meeting, helping us to form the
Planned Parenthood group there.
Hughes: Was there any kind of family planning clinic here before that?
Evans: Nothing. There was nothing of that nature. We hooked up eventually with Shelton
as well.
Hughes: By the way, it was really interesting to me to read Dan’s really gutsy statements
in opposition to the death penalty in the 1960s. He and Justice Bob Utter, whom Dan
appointed to the Supreme Court, were absolutely kindred souls when it came to the issue
of capital punishment.
Evans: Jim Dolliver was that way too, although he wouldn’t be talking about it that
publicly. When I was teaching school toward the end we decided to take the fifth and
sixth graders who were bright, and have a special class, one class a week. I taught it in the
library. So I had maybe 12 or 14 kids who were really bright and really good students. I
decided, because it was an issue at that time, to discuss the death penalty. I’d say, “Well,
let’s have a debate.” Then we invited the superintendent of public instruction and the
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