Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

there dessert?” And I’d say, “No Mother, there’s no dessert.” I don’t make dessert.
Hughes: You went cold turkey off dessert after the 15 pounds you gained in the first
campaign for governor, right?
Evans: I just never did desserts. At any rate, Mother became more frail. And the boys
were attentive. It was lovely because they took care of her in many ways. They would
take her to the bathroom and shut the door for her when she had to go. It was quite
lovely to see this reversal of roles that they had. They adored her, of course. But she
was getting more and more frail so somebody had to be there a lot of the time. And she
was also getting forgetful. And then when Dan ended up going to the Senate, Mother
was an issue. She went over to Sun Valley to stay with my sister Mary for a time. It was
very serendipitous in a way. And then we found a wonderful place near my other sister,
outside of Portland in a family home where they had two people and had children. It was
wonderful because mother loved children. So it was a great place for her. They took good
care of her and did her nails, you know, did her hair. So she lived there until 1987 when she
died. She was 94.
Hughes: Were Dan’s parents still alive during that era?
Evans: Dan’s father died in 1979, then two years later his mother, and then my mother.
Hughes: Tell us about the highlights of the Evergreen years.
Evans: Well, there was Willi Unsoeld’s memorial service. (Editor’s Note: Unsoeld, one
of the founding faculty at the college, died on Mount Rainier in 1979, together with an
Evergreen student.) That was very
moving. And the story of Dan rappelling
down the clock tower at Evergreen (in the
spring of 1973) is pretty interesting.
Hughes: Somehow I missed that one.
Evans: Willi Unsoeld was a real mountain
climber, and he just kept saying, “Dan,
you’ve got to do this.” And Dan would
The Evans at The Evergreen State College. Dan rapelled the clock tower
in the background. Evans family album
151
say, “Willi, I haven’t rappelled in a long