Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

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wartime. So that was a severe blow to the family. Hughes: Which is a perfect segue to politics. Were politics talked about in the Bell household? Evans: Yes. My father was not a meeting-going or church-going or “anything going” sort of person. But we did talk politics at home. My siblings, being older, had interests that were different than mine, but I would listen a lot to the discussions. On Election Day my mother would be one of the people there as a Republican poll watcher. And she went to some political meetings. Daddy didn’t. But both my sisters and my brother were all active in one way or another in the Republican Party. And actually Bill ran some big campaigns for candidates. He was very active in Dan’s 1964 campaign for governor. He was also an early supporter of Gov. Stassen of Minnesota when he first ran for president (in 1944). Barbara was a precinct committeewoman for a while. Hughes: This was the Willkie-Dewey era in GOP politics. Evans: Well, I don’t remember Willkie being discussed much, but Roosevelt was. My father always pronounced it “Roose-a-velt.” And my mother would say, “It’s ‘Rose-a-velt.’ ”FDR was discussed a great deal at the dinner table – with derision from my father. Dan’s father was the same way. Daddy would be the devil’s advocate and Mother would always be trying to placate everything, you know, “Now Lawrence.” Everybody would enter into the discussions, so it was very much a part of our family life. Hughes: With mom having grown up with a Methodist preacher for a dad, was going to church a big deal in the Bell household? Evans: It was in my mother’s household. Never in my father’s. I don’t know that he ever went to church except to see his children baptized or married. Hughes: Did you kids all go to Sunday school? Evans: We all went to Sunday school. We actually went to a Congregational Church, which we all preferred. That’s where Dan and I were married. Many of my family’s friends went to the Episcopal Church in Spokane – St. John’s Cathedral. But it was not to our liking because we all sort of liked something more lively. I like a good sermon, usually one that’s provocative. And I like the music. So we really chose the Congregational Church. It 12
was very New England-ish in its essence. We had a wonderful minister too, who was very provocative at times and not afraid to try to instruct or challenge the congregation on all sorts of things. I used to play and sing in our church choir. I couldn’t sing very well, but I could carry a tune. Hughes: Nancy Bell Evans was destined to become a music teacher. Did that all start with piano lessons? Evans: Well, yes, and we all were musical. My mother was very musical. She played the piano a little. One of my sisters had a really nice voice, and my brother had a nice voice. And he was artistic. I took piano lessons starting at an early age – fifth grade or something like that, and I moved along pretty fast. So by the time I was in eighth grade I was playing pretty well. Maybe I was a freshman in high school when I had an interesting formative experience. I don’t know how I even learned about it, but they were looking for a pianist at the orphanage on the north side of town so the kids could learn Christmas carols for a program. Perhaps my mother suggested it to me. In any case, after school on certain days of the week I would take the bus to the north side of town, quite a ways north. I had to transfer buses to get there. And I would play the piano. They had a woman there who was leading the children, teaching them various songs. We worked with the kids for a number of weeks leading up to the program. I became a friend with one of the girls in the orphanage who was my age. I don’t remember her name, I’m sorry to say. But suddenly it occurred to me that the program was over, Christmas was coming and she was going to be at the orphanage. So I asked my parents if I could bring her home during the holidays. And they said, “Of course,” that would be very nice. That’s what my parents were like. Hughes: So, growing up in Spokane, did you do all the classic things like go to the matinees and sock hops? Evans: I was a very typical teenager, enjoyed it all. I still have two very good friends in Spokane, and we keep in touch a lot. Being a girl was a very happy time for me. I was very active in school and I was a student body officer. I was a cheerleader. I was just a typical teenager —had boyfriends, you know, the whole thing. I really liked my music, and I was really active in that. I would play the piano for the choir, and I would play the piano for the 13
Page 2 and 3: Nancy Evans Research by John C. Hug
Page 4 and 5: certificate says Nancy Ann Bell, wh
Page 6 and 7: England family. There were a lot of
Page 8 and 9: Evans: Yes. My father’s mother wa
Page 10 and 11: Evans: Well, I was a spoiled brat.
Page 14 and 15: Madrigal Singers. I played the pian
Page 16 and 17: ecause she could say no. So I think
Page 18 and 19: had two grand pianos as well as the
Page 20 and 21: ecause he wasn’t waiting for me.
Page 22 and 23: and then I came. When I competed fo
Page 24 and 25: out of college, living with all the
Page 26 and 27: Christmas program. That was just a
Page 28 and 29: Hughes: What was your first impress
Page 30 and 31: in Vancouver. They were very Britis
Page 32 and 33: Evans: Dan tells this story wonderf
Page 34 and 35: Hughes: I’ve never met Sally Gort
Page 36 and 37: number of times but it’s still so
Page 38 and 39: SAS nonstop. You could have 40 poun
Page 40 and 41: Evans: No. I can’t. I think he wo
Page 42 and 43: Evans: Uh-huh. Hughes: Is that the
Page 44 and 45: Evans: That’s right. And lost. Bu
Page 46 and 47: Hughes: As things went along, were
Page 48 and 49: Hughes: Barry Goldwater may have be
Page 50 and 51: Hughes: Did you really find that pe
Page 52 and 53: Hughes: That’s funny. And then th
Page 54 and 55: Evans: Well, I used to always say t
Page 56 and 57: Evans: Yes, pronounced “Poe-gi.
Page 58 and 59: we’re sitting in the drawing room
Page 60 and 61: cabinet wives - the wives of the ca
Page 62 and 63:
Evans: Well, Elsie was one. She was
Page 64 and 65:
Evans: Yes. And in fact I remember
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governor was supposed to arrive at
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pointed two pillows for us that are
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dog, “Peggy! Peggy! Come here, Pe
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een assassinated. So there was a ne
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Hughes: I’m told that the chief h
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Hughes: Was Neil McReynolds the gov
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carpet layer. I was standing there,
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just all the time because we were l
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Nelsen was his name. We hired him a
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Hughes: Nancy didn’t go along? Ev
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The Governor’s Foundation wanted
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ecome “senior” now to separate
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a trundle underneath, so three bunk
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sort of stabbed at it and tried to
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whole thing. I remember I was very
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Hughes: I bet that made a big hit.
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They had been put to bed but they w
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Hughes: I read that you, and I thin
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adjourn. I was young and had never
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at the hotel and said, “Do you ha
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chickens. We don’t like whole chi
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good causes. I couldn’t believe t
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never left your eyes. Paul Newman w
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go back to Dan for a few seconds, b
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Evans: And we don’t carry that ma
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told me that on the first trip he e
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people. Never. Dan had worked quite
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Nancy plays the piano for a sing-a-
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Evans: No. It was organized (in 196
Page 124 and 125:
inauguration of President Obama. Th
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this cute little guy. Then we start
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Evans: No. But we met her and Princ
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the way Pickleball started. The sto
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Evans: Pretty much. I would hope th
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the library, which used to be a lit
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told this story that Jean Gardner c
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Evans: A bit out of the norm. So I
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then sort of a Van Dyke, and finall
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Hughes: Tell me about that. Evans:
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Hughes: Tell us about any other tri
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aquavit, which was terrible. And th
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I remember I was standing in the fr
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early. Well, when Dan was a freshma
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time.” Finally he decided to do i
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and put him on the plane for his ju
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president of the college. He just d
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Evans: Yes. I know he likes and res
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Heffernan: The other question I hav
Page 162 and 163:
He hooked up with a lot of Australi
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think very well. So it was a huge l
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first of January. Then after some l
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But I got the rental furniture deli
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was very interesting. And he always
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Evans: Yes, we did. Hughes: Did you
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So we enjoyed all of that. But when
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was all decorated with very, very c
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me again. But that was my daily wal
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Hughes: You bought a house, tore it
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away after building your first-ever
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had good friends, Sherman and Nouch
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Evans: Yes. And “What about my ch
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learned he was coming to Seattle to
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the fire is lit, the cookies and mi
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very successful and it’s a separa
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Sheppard and she attended the UW. I
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over here. Celia, being a mother, w
Page 198 and 199:
Evans: So they didn’t have to wor
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Hughes: You have always been pretty
Page 202 and 203:
that he’s always easy, but he is
Page 204 and 205:
“Crosscut” 100 Crystal Mountain
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Minnesota 12 Minow, Newt 187 Minto,
Page 208:
Wallgren, Monrad 2 Washington, D.C.
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Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

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