Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Evans: Well, I used to always say
that I would not like to live in the
Mansion without children because
it’s just big and quiet.
Hughes: It humanizes the place,
doesn’t it?
Evans: It really does. And we
determined very early on that the
house was their home, and they
could live everywhere. So the
ballroom was a great play area a lot
The Mansion ballroom in the 1960s. Washington State Archives
of the time.
Hughes: Any first impressions when you saw what the private quarters were like in the
Mansion?
Evans: Well, It was just not our home, that’s all. But right away, after the election, we were
besieged by requests for entertaining at the Mansion. And I kept saying, “I don’t know.”
Hughes: This was before you moved in?
Evans: Yes. And I remember a request from the ARW, which is the Associated Republican
Women. It was quite an active organization. Dan’s mother was a member. They came
down to the Legislature each year and they said they would like to have lunch at the
Mansion. Let’s see, the inauguration was on a Wednesday, and they wanted to come for
lunch that Friday or maybe the following Monday. And like a nit-wit I said yes! I remember
that. But, at any rate, they came and we did fine, I guess. But the move was very hectic.
You want to hear about the move?
Hughes: I do.
Evans: Well, Dan was being sworn in at noon. And the Rosellinis were still there (in
the Mansion) the night before. Meantime, there was the question of the redistricting
gerrymandering the Democrats were trying to pull off in the Legislature. Dan had his hands
full as a Republican leader in the Legislature on the eve of his inauguration as governor.
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