Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

horse – a fresh-faced dark horse, but a dark horse nevertheless. 1964 was shaping up as a
Democratic year.
Evans: And I had good reason to think that way because that was the case. And, yes, I was
pregnant with number two, Mark. That was my focus.
Hughes: I’d forgotten you were pregnant.
Evans: Yes, I was pregnant when this (governor talk) started. And then I had Mark in
September of ’63. The campaign actually was already in formation at that time. So we
asked Mother, who was a recent widow, to come and stay with us to help with the children
so that I could get out and about a bit. She was real reluctant to do so because she always
said “I do not believe in living with my children.” And I said, “Well, we’re not talking about
you living with us.”
Hughes: Not to mention the fact that Spokane had been her home for all those years.
Evans: That’s right. Dan was the one who convinced her to come over to Seattle. We
had a very small house – not very far from our present house. So Mother came, and that
helped. Then I was able to go out and do a little campaigning with Dan.
Hughes: “A little”? Is that by means of understatement?
Evans: No, because I still had the two kids. But Dan liked it when I could go along to
things, obviously.
Again, even then,
and to this day – I
shouldn’t say this
– but he’s just
not real easy with
meeting people.
Hughes: I read
that some of his
staff called him
“Old Gluefoot.”
The candidate with his family, 1964. Evans family album
41
He really is shy,
isn’t he?