Nany Evans oral history.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Foster, a lovely man who had the Don Foster Gallery down in Pioneer Square. (Now Foster/
White Gallery.) He and Dick White had a lot of wonderful artists they represented. He
suggested I contact Jean Jongeward, the best interior designer in Seattle. He said, “You’ve
got to have her” because she was really talented. I called her and said, “We can’t pay you a
lot of money” and all of that. So we worked out a deal. She volunteered her time and very
often gave us her (wholesale) prices on things.
Editor’s Note: When she died in 2000 at the age of 83, The Seattle Times noted,
“Jean Jongeward, the elegant designer whom clients and colleagues called ‘Seattle’s queen
of design,’ built a national reputation for originality, patronage of local artists and decades
of influence in Northwest homes and businesses. Largely self-taught, with a background
in accessorizing model rooms for the old Frederick & Nelson store, she worked with top
regional architects and helped establish the Northwest style.”
Jean was very generous. She was very, very good. So for starters she redid Mark’s
room, which had been flowery for one of the Rosellini daughters, as well as Bruce’s room.
In 1965 when we moved in nothing major had been done in large part to the Mansion
since it opened all those years ago. Much of the furniture was the furniture that Mrs. Hay
bought in 1908 from Frederick & Nelson. It was late Victorian style, so it’s heavy. The
State Dining Room was furnished completely in this furniture. Mrs. Rosellini had bought a
few other pieces, like in the drawing room there was a little settee that was a little more
modern – not contemporary, but newer, sort of Italian-style almost. And I know this
because, as I mentioned earlier, Mrs. Langlie came down to visit me and we went around
and identified pieces. Governor Hay’s daughter also came down. She didn’t grow up in
the Mansion, because she was grown when her father was elected governor, but she had
visited her parents. And then Mrs. Rosellini also was very helpful in identifying things of
that nature to me. So I did a lot of research. The wall-to-wall carpet that was in the front
hall and going up the stairs was the same that had been put-in in the ’30s by the governor
from Spokane, Clarence Martin.
I can remember our oldest son, Danny, when he was in about the second grade had
a friend over who lived in the neighborhood. I did not know it but the boy’s father was a
77