Dan Evans passed away at age 98 on Sept. 20; my wife Sue and I were with him at a University of Washington Regents reunion event on Sept. 11. He always showed up for UW events and his son, Dan, Jr., escorted him to this one. My conversation with him was very brief, because his attention, as always, was in great demand from his friends and colleagues.
We were newlyweds in 1973 — married on a Friday and reporting to work at the state Legislature the following Monday as young legislative aides. From the House Gallery, we watched as Evans was inaugurated for his third and final term as governor, First Lady Nancy and their three young sons looking on.
Much later, I got to know Dan (and Nancy), because we served on a few boards and committees together, especially the UW Board of Regents and the Board of Directors of Puget Sound Energy. But I also remember him from my service as a young staffer for the Washington State Human Rights Commission during his tenure as governor in the 1970s.
Known as an environmental advocate, it may have been forgotten that he was also an early and ardent supporter for civil rights and equality. During the racially turbulent 1960s and ’70s, we always felt confident that Gov. Evans was on the right side of history and would back our initiatives to further equality.
Once in a while at the commission, I would be called upon to draft some kind of statement for his office having to do with a pressing and timely civil rights issue. We rarely got push-back on our content. As an illustration, when the federal government raised questions about the manner in which Washington’s state and local governments were implementing affirmative action measures (suggesting that we were going too far), I drafted a rather detailed letter for his signature to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, which had some involvement with agencies that received federal funds.
To our surprise, Evans then asked for an audience in D.C. with the Civil Service Commission — the first state governor to ever appear before that federal body. Officials of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) were blown away by Evans’ advocacy. They couldn’t believe that any state governor, especially a Republican, would bother to stick his neck out on such a complicated and controversial bureaucratic matter.
The U.S. Civil Service Commission decided to leave Washington state to its own policies for pursuing equality in employment opportunity.
I remember asking a leader of Seattle’s Black community about the political lay of the land in the 1972 Washington governor’s race. He told me that most of his peers were Democrats “sneaking around to vote for Evans.” That may describe the breadth of respect that the state’s residents had for him. He was a Republican for sure, but he said he’d rather “cross the aisle than cross the people.” Even his appointment to the UW Board of Regents was by a Democratic governor — Mike Lowry. One of our fellow UW regents, who had been a national political operative on the “D” side, told Dan: “I’ve never voted for a Republican; and I include in that the times that I voted for you!”
On Western Washington University’s campus in 1972, where we as students were working (successfully) to elect a college administrator named Barney Goltz to the state House as a Democrat, many of us involved with that campaign were also supporting Republican Evans for governor. Students responded to his environmental admonition not to “Californicate Washington,” as well as to his record on civil rights and his “straight-arrow” image, the latter of which was an accurate depiction.
Pragmatic, politically moderate Republicans in Washington were called “Dan Evans Republicans.” They even elected officeholders in the somewhat liberal Seattle of back then. The modern GOP has drifted far away from that model, which may explain why Washington is such a blue state.
Dan was a big presence in any room, but he didn’t act like it. He could be forceful on issues, but he was always very thoughtful and courteous in demeanor. Observing him from afar and up close for more than five decades, he did not disappoint. Every once in a while, you run into someone you’d like to emulate. I’m grateful that I got to know someone who is often described as perhaps the greatest leader in the state’s history. Dan Evans was the real deal.
Author’s note: The Evans School at UW prepared a fine piece on Dan, and the embedded film is worth seeing, especially for those who grew up in Washington under his public service and leadership.
Craig Cole is a retired Bellingham business executive who has served on the WWU Board of Trustees, UW Board of Regents, Washington State Human Rights Commission, and the Board of Directors of Puget Sound Energy. He was elected to the Whatcom County Council in the early 1980s and was named by WWU as its 18th Distinguished Alumnus.
Expanding public input — and commission seats — at the Port of Bellingham