Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Hughes: Adele Ferguson, The Bremerton Sun’s
legendary capitol correspondent, told me there are
three things you should never ask a woman: her
weight, her age and her salary. But I’m duty bound
to ask you when you were born.
Evans: In Spokane on March 21, 1933. It was the first
day of spring. And my father came home to make
the announcement to my three siblings. They were
seven, nine, and 12 years older – Mary, Bill Bell Jr.
and Barbara. They were anxiously waiting to know
if it was a boy or a girl. He told them that it was a
girl, and my brother was very disappointed. Then
my father said, “And we’re going to name her Vernal
Equinoxia Bell.” And they all said, “Oh, Dad, you
Baby Nancy with a teddy bear. Evans family album
can’t do that!” Well, of course, he was joking. He had a wonderful sense of humor. “We’re
going to call her ‘Vernie’ for short,” he said.
Hughes: In the Time magazine article in 1968 when Dan was on the cover as the keynoter
at the Republican National Convention, it says that
your dad wanted to name you that, but your mom
“dissuaded” him. But it was just a joke?
Evans: Oh yes, totally.
Hughes: You’re Nancy Ann Bell, right?
Evans: Ah, yes. When I was born, my mother
named me Elizabeth Ann Bell. And the obstetrician,
Dr. Mary Rodney, who delivered me, said to Mother
and Daddy, “Well, she doesn’t look like an Elizabeth
to me. She looks like a Nancy.” And that’s what
she wrote on the birth certificate. So my baptism
Nancy in her baby buggy in 1933. Evans family album
certificate says Elizabeth Ann Bell, and my birth
3