Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Evans: I know. It was so pretty. And the fabric was just gorgeous. It was a nice room.
Hughes: I understand that one hot summer’s day you were scooting around in shorts
when you encountered some touring taxpayers who just wandered in.
Evans: The front door was open so I could get some cool air in. And of course we didn’t
have the guards like they do now.
Hughes: And no air conditioning?
Evans: No. And I was just coming
down the stairs and here were two
people standing inside the house.
And I was startled: “Oh! Can I help
you?” And they were very nice.
They said, “Well, we thought this
was open and can we just tour?”
And I said, “Oh, I’m sorry. No, you
There was no State Patrol guard post when the Evans moved in. Note the
"Caution, Children at Play" sign to the right. Washington State Archives
cannot because our family is here.” They were very nice, and very embarrassed. I felt
sorry for them because I knew that they were feeling silly. They just wandered in.
Hughes: I gather that you really tried to make that a normal kind of place so the
neighborhood kids could come in and they could play trains and race cars with your boys.
Evans: Oh yes. You talked about seeing Legos at the Lockes – We had Legos in the Ballroom
and those fast tracks that go around, with the miniature race cars. But I would tell them
one thing: “Boys, no basketballs, no footballs in here.” Well, by golly not too long ago I
came across a picture of our eldest son with a basketball in the Ballroom. I had said, “Only
Nerf balls.” Well, it was not. It was a real basketball. But by and large there were toys
everywhere, and tricycles. They were all in there. Danny, our oldest son, was in a Cub
Scout group, and we had the Christmas party at the Mansion. They sang Christmas carols.
It was fun. Yes, we did all those things.
Hughes: Well, you were remarking that there wasn’t a State Patrol cadet guardhouse
down at the end of the drive in those days. What kind of security did you have then?
Evans: When we first moved into the Mansion it was not long after John Kennedy had
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