Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Evans: No. I mean they were just –
Hughes: Droll?
Evans: Yes.
Hughes: You dad was good that way, too, wasn’t he?
Evans: He was very good that way, yes.
Hughes: So, they must have gotten on really well – Dan and Daddy.
Evans: They did. They weren’t together as much as I would have liked because as I said,
my father, unfortunately, died shortly after we were married, and they lived in Spokane.
Hughes: He must have been really proud of what Dan was achieving as a young legislator.
He would have really got a kick out of Dan being governor and seeing you in the Mansion.
Evans: Oh yes.
Hughes: I love the picture of you on your wedding day with your dad looking so classically
“dad.”
Evans: Yes. (smiling)
Hughes: Was there one moment during all the times you were following protocol, being
first lady and trying to be just you at the same time – was there any embarrassing moment
where you would have liked to crawl under the table and died?
Evans: I can’t tell you what it was, but I know there were because I remember feeling
that way a number of times — well, not a number, but more than once. … I really don’t
remember. Probably in the back of my brain I’ve hidden them away — but I know I
sometimes would say things that I should never have said. I can do that.
Hughes: I like that about you.
Evans: Well, no, it gets me in trouble.
Hughes: You told Ammons about times you were jawboning “some of our 17 th Century
legislators on your favorite causes when they visited the Mansion.” And then sometimes
after the guests had left Dan would say to you, “Did you really have to buttonhole that one?”
Evans: Yeah, I’m sure I did.
Hughes: That would have been Slim?
Evans: Well, there were other issues – social issues – that I would get involved with.
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