Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

oys took over the role of what she had had with them as young boys. They took care of
her. … But having my mother at the mansion was a huge help and it really is what made it
possible for me to not go crazy. (laughing) And she was also very sensible. Any sensibility
I have I learned from her. She was very practical, and when I wasn’t around she tried to
keep things orderly, as much as she could with the kids. So she was a lifesaver.
Hughes: Your dad was in his fifties when you were born in 1933, wasn’t he?
Evans: Yes. He was 55. He was a very proud man, my mother said, and she was not
jubilant!
Hughes: That’s hilarious. I remember my mom and my Aunt Phyllis were both pregnant
at about 43 in 1954. And I can still see my mom and my aunt sitting in her kitchen. They
were both smoking up a storm — both pregnant, smoking. My aunt was drinking a can of
Oly, and they were just sitting there in their shorts and smocks, both huge with child. How
things have changed. Nobody thought anything of smoking and drinking during pregnancy.
Evans: No, of course not. I didn’t smoke then, but that was very typical, absolutely.
Speaking of being fat and pregnant, I was huge.
Hughes: For the record, I didn’t say anything about you being fat and pregnant!
Evans: But I was huge with Bruce, because he was a 10-and-a-quarter-pound baby. He
was tall and big, and he was late. It was August and it was extremely warm and hot. And
I remember I was sitting upstairs in the Mansion in a shift that I had that fit me, just a
sleeveless cotton thing that just
went straight down. And Peggy
was in heat. The trooper called
up and said, “Mrs. Evans, Peggy
got out!” So I went out. I was
in bare feet. I still remember
this so well. … I was on the
east lawn, way on the east side
of the capitol, over by Capitol
Washington’s first family with Peggy, their Irish Wolfhound. Washington State Library
69
Boulevard, chasing this enormous