Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

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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. 186
Hughes: You had a terrific budget deficit, didn’t you? Evans: Big deficit, and lots of morale issues. And some of the people worked very, very hard on this. Bill was just great, he came in and he’s just an easy person to know him. So the staff was willing to see what he could do and go along with him because he wasn’t coming in mad or with demands. He came in and worked with the people and tried to build up the morale. He talked to every employee individually, one-on-one, and he just worked really hard with our staff – and also on the budget. The board worked very hard with him. Every year we would build new challenges for him, and every year he came back and he met his challenges, and succeeded beyond them. Hughes: He just seemed like such a neat old-shoe kind of guy. Evans: Bill is wonderful. So he was at the right place at the right time, lucky for us. Then he wanted to go back to golf — his retirement. And he was commuting every day from Tacoma. And so we had a national search. Moss Bresnahan comes from Charleston. He’s been with public television for a while. And he’s brought a desire to have us reach out. We have such a good sound basis. It’s not as bad as other organizations are facing now. Moss didn’t know anybody when he got here, and he wants to get to know people, which has been great because they get to know KCTS through meeting him. A number of business people I run into or talk to bring it up: “Gee, I met your new president and he’s just great.” And he’s trying to build alliances between various organizations. “What can we do for you? And what can you do for us?” sort of thing, which has been very nice to see. Hughes: Newt Minow, the FCC Commissioner in the 1960s, called television a “vast wasteland.” I don’t know where I’d be without PBS – the Three Tenors, Sesame Street, Ken Burns and Julia Child. Evans: Yeah! Hughes: Have you got to meet Ken Burns and some of those amazing people involved with PBS? Evans: Burns was just in town last week. Hughes: I heard him on NPR. Evans: We had dinner with him. He was wonderful. I had not met him before. When we 187
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Nancy Evans Research by John C. Hug
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certificate says Nancy Ann Bell, wh
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England family. There were a lot of
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Evans: Yes. My father’s mother wa
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Evans: Well, I was a spoiled brat.
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wartime. So that was a severe blow
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Madrigal Singers. I played the pian
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ecause she could say no. So I think
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had two grand pianos as well as the
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ecause he wasn’t waiting for me.
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and then I came. When I competed fo
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out of college, living with all the
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Christmas program. That was just a
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Hughes: What was your first impress
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in Vancouver. They were very Britis
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Evans: Dan tells this story wonderf
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Hughes: I’ve never met Sally Gort
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number of times but it’s still so
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SAS nonstop. You could have 40 poun
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Evans: No. I can’t. I think he wo
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Evans: Uh-huh. Hughes: Is that the
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Evans: That’s right. And lost. Bu
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Hughes: As things went along, were
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Hughes: Barry Goldwater may have be
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Hughes: Did you really find that pe
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Hughes: That’s funny. And then th
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Evans: Well, I used to always say t
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Evans: Yes, pronounced “Poe-gi.
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we’re sitting in the drawing room
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cabinet wives - the wives of the ca
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Evans: Well, Elsie was one. She was
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Evans: Yes. And in fact I remember
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governor was supposed to arrive at
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pointed two pillows for us that are
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dog, “Peggy! Peggy! Come here, Pe
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een assassinated. So there was a ne
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Hughes: I’m told that the chief h
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Hughes: Was Neil McReynolds the gov
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carpet layer. I was standing there,
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just all the time because we were l
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Nelsen was his name. We hired him a
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Hughes: Nancy didn’t go along? Ev
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The Governor’s Foundation wanted
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ecome “senior” now to separate
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a trundle underneath, so three bunk
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sort of stabbed at it and tried to
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whole thing. I remember I was very
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Hughes: I bet that made a big hit.
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They had been put to bed but they w
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Hughes: I read that you, and I thin
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adjourn. I was young and had never
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at the hotel and said, “Do you ha
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chickens. We don’t like whole chi
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good causes. I couldn’t believe t
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never left your eyes. Paul Newman w
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go back to Dan for a few seconds, b
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Evans: And we don’t carry that ma
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told me that on the first trip he e
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people. Never. Dan had worked quite
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Nancy plays the piano for a sing-a-
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Evans: No. It was organized (in 196
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inauguration of President Obama. Th
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this cute little guy. Then we start
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Evans: No. But we met her and Princ
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the way Pickleball started. The sto
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Evans: Pretty much. I would hope th
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the library, which used to be a lit
Page 136 and 137: told this story that Jean Gardner c
Page 138 and 139: Evans: A bit out of the norm. So I
Page 140 and 141: then sort of a Van Dyke, and finall
Page 142 and 143: Hughes: Tell me about that. Evans:
Page 144 and 145: Hughes: Tell us about any other tri
Page 146 and 147: aquavit, which was terrible. And th
Page 148 and 149: I remember I was standing in the fr
Page 150 and 151: early. Well, when Dan was a freshma
Page 152 and 153: time.” Finally he decided to do i
Page 154 and 155: and put him on the plane for his ju
Page 156 and 157: president of the college. He just d
Page 158 and 159: Evans: Yes. I know he likes and res
Page 160 and 161: Heffernan: The other question I hav
Page 162 and 163: He hooked up with a lot of Australi
Page 164 and 165: think very well. So it was a huge l
Page 166 and 167: first of January. Then after some l
Page 168 and 169: But I got the rental furniture deli
Page 170 and 171: was very interesting. And he always
Page 172 and 173: Evans: Yes, we did. Hughes: Did you
Page 174 and 175: So we enjoyed all of that. But when
Page 176 and 177: was all decorated with very, very c
Page 178 and 179: me again. But that was my daily wal
Page 180 and 181: Hughes: You bought a house, tore it
Page 182 and 183: away after building your first-ever
Page 184 and 185: had good friends, Sherman and Nouch
Page 188 and 189: learned he was coming to Seattle to
Page 190 and 191: the fire is lit, the cookies and mi
Page 192 and 193: very successful and it’s a separa
Page 194 and 195: Sheppard and she attended the UW. I
Page 196 and 197: over here. Celia, being a mother, w
Page 198 and 199: Evans: So they didn’t have to wor
Page 200 and 201: Hughes: You have always been pretty
Page 202 and 203: that he’s always easy, but he is
Page 204 and 205: “Crosscut” 100 Crystal Mountain
Page 206 and 207: Minnesota 12 Minow, Newt 187 Minto,
Page 208: Wallgren, Monrad 2 Washington, D.C.
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Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

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