Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Evans: Yes. And “What about my children?” and on and on and on. So many questions. So
that’s how it grew and evolved. It was under the umbrella of Family Services, a United Way
agency, and then my friend Barbara Frederick, who was the executive director, thought it
was time to break away and grow in different ways. Which, bless her heart, she did. She
masterminded the change and we raised enough money to build the building so we could
have classes and people could come and do different things. And they have a resource
library, and a staff. So we helped with that. They still have the lifeline, the phone line;
that’s still a very big part of their existence, but they also have classes for lymphedema and
other complications. One of the women who has been there ever since I’ve been around
is just wonderful. She deals with young children who are losing their parents, trying to let
them know how to express themselves and deal with it. And they have exercise classes.
Just a wide variety of things. They also now provide services in several hospitals in the
Seattle area.
Hughes: Are you still active with the Cancer Lifeline?
Evans: I’m not now because I was involved for a long time. I just don’t have time right now.
Hughes: You were on the KCTS board. I’m really envious of that because I love public
television.
Evans: I’m still on the KCTS Board. I’m vice chairman.
Hughes: Well, your new manager Moss Bresnahan, seems –
Evans: Wonderful. He really is doing a great job. He’s very nice, very pleasant and he’s
doing a lot of outreach which we needed. I’ve been on that board quite a long while, too,
and we went through a very bad time.
Hughes: Yes you did.
Evans: There was a time when there were two or three of us who threatened to quit
the board if something didn’t happen, if things didn’t change. We were asked to stay on
through some union negotiations which I did reluctantly. And then the president left.
Fortuitously, Bill Mohler from Tacoma, the retired head of Bates school and also the public
television station down there, called and said, “Can I be of help?” And we said, “Yes, that’s
just great,” because we were just, “whew!” Yesterday we were here and today we’re there.
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