Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: A lot of people imagine how swell it is to be a United States Senator.
Evans: Many people wrote me letters just out of curiosity (over details like that), asking,
“And how much did they give you to move?” Zero! “And do they provide housing for you?”
Zero! And, “Do they provide help for you?” Zero, zero! And here I was just struggling to
get us settled in. I can remember the first meal I was cooking in this rental place and it
occurred to me I didn’t have a bowl to make a salad. I had brought a colander along for
pasta, and I used it to toss a salad – without the dressing, of course. And I had a little frying
pan and a pot.
Hughes: You two were like newlyweds all over again.
Evans: What I discovered was that you can get along so well with so little. It was a good
lesson for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention to it because I don’t throw things away,
and I’ve acquired too much since then. But we lived that way in this rental situation. One
of Bruce’s high school buddies came back to visit on his spring break, and of course then I
went out and rented a bed because we didn’t have one. When I was renting this furniture
and asked if they would deliver it, they said, “Payment?” I had a credit card that had Dan’s
name on it – “Senator Daniel J. Evans.” And the clerk said, “Well, he will have to come
down and sign this.” And I said, “Why?” And she said, “Well, because he is a salary earner.”
And I said, “But I’m his wife. And it’s a 50/50,” you know. I did this very calmly. “And isn’t
there something about community property?” And she said, “No, I’m sorry. He’s going to
have to …” I said, “He does not have the time.” And I knew in my mind not only that, but
he would not do it. As a matter of principle he would not do it. But I didn’t say that to her.
Finally I think she said, “You’re going to have to take this and he’s going to have to write
something down.” (Like a note saying she was authorized to use the card.) So I said, “Then
I’m not buying your things because I’m not going to be treated that way. This is 50/50. I
said that we would pay the bill, and we will pay the bill.” I got quite incensed by the whole
process. And eventually it worked and they said OK and I paid the bill. This is 1983, and
they didn’t know who I was. We were newly arrived, and all of that. Nevertheless, he was
in the U.S. Senate, for Pete’s sake. You would think that would have helped with something.
It wasn’t like we were transients moving through, or anything.
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