Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

So we enjoyed all of that. But when Dan decided to come back home (to
Washington State) that was just fine with me. Back there, it’s a funny life in a way. It’s
wonderful but it never seemed like a natural life to me. That sounds sort of strange but it’s
just a superficial sort of thing in many ways. Maybe we just weren’t there long enough to
fully embed ourselves in the spirit of the thing.
Hughes: Did you make any lasting new friends there?
Evans: A lot of people because I hadn’t known anybody to speak of. On our little block
there were four senators. The Domenicis were across the street. The night before we
drove home we stayed our last night in their home. They’re very nice people. And Bob
Graham lived three doors down, from Florida. And John Kerry, who ran for president four
years ago, from Massachusetts. He wasn’t around a lot but he lived there. I would walk
everywhere. I would walk to the grocery. I would walk to the cleaners, and I would walk to
the book store. It was all within walking distance, all urban. I walked to Dan’s office. And
we had one car; that was all. It worked because you take the Metro or a cab.
Let me tell you one thing that just occurred to me. I still remember it because it was
so unique. They were celebrating the bicentennial of the signing of the constitution. So
it was 1987. And they chose the same number of senators as the number of people who
signed the Constitution. They planned a celebration and a re-enactment, in Independence
Hall in Philadelphia. And Dan was chosen to be one of the senators. So some of the
spouses went up with them. You read about the signing of the Constitution and the heavy
drapes. It was all true. And there was a little tiny gallery up high above it looking down on
the signing room.
Hughes: At Independence Hall?
Evans: Yes. You had to take turns standing up there because there wasn’t room enough for
all of us. They were reading the speeches and doing a great re-enactment. And then you’d
go outside and wait and somebody else would take their turn. And that was fun. Then
they had a reception or something and a dinner.
I don’t remember if we spent the night or what, but I know that somehow we
were coming home by helicopter. We went down to where we were supposed to catch
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