Page 22
November 2013
The Charbonneau Villager
Bob Swan Left a Newspaper Legacy
Looking Back . . .
A Series of Historical Vignettes
on Charbonneau and the Area
MICK SCOTT
Bob Swan, patriarch of
the family that published The
Charbonneau Villager for 25
years, left us Sept. 27 at age
86.
From 1984 until 2009, the
Swans brought us news, features, commentary, pictures
and everything Charbonneau,
chronicled on the pages of The
Villager.
Through the years, the
Swans published 291 issues,
totaling more than 6,300 pages. It all adds up to about
8,000 articles, 4,500 photos
and an astounding 2.6 million
words.
He served as president of
the Charbonneau Country
Club from 1995 to 1997, a position he took very seriously.
He was “fair-minded and a
hard working leader who valued input from the board of
directors and Charbonneau
homeowners,” recalls CCC
Executive Director Susie Stevens.
Of all the Villagers, he was
probably most proud of a 16page special section he published in September 1995
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World
War II. It featured 40 pictures and a dozen first-hand
accounts from Charbonneau
residents who were veterans
of the war. Bob was a student
of World War II, who traveled
with his friend, Walt McKinney, to Normandy in 1994
for the 50th anniversary of DDay. They also made a halfdozen trips to the Admiral
Nimitz Symposium in Fredericksburg, Texas. Years before,
upon his graduation from
his hometown Corvallis High
School, Bob served in the U.S.
Coast Guard before enrolling
at Oregon State in 1947.
Bob left some long-time
friends from college days who
are residents of Charbonneau.
Among them are George and
Nan Dewey, who Bob met
while at Oregon State. Bob
was editor of The Oregon State
Barometer newspaper; George
was student body president.
Nan, later to become one our
state's top lobbyists, wrote
“Salem Scene,” a column on
legislative affairs that ran in
The Villager for years.
Bob worked well into his
late 60s. At one time, he was
editor-publisher of The Villager, the opinion page editor of
the HillsboroArgus and marketing director of the Multnomah Kennel Club (MKC),
where his school chum George
Dewey was MKC president.
While in school, Bob and
another future Charbonneau
resident, fraternity brother
Bob Carl, were houseboys
at the Oregon State sorority
where Bob Carl met his future
bride, Shirley. Bob Carl did
his good turn by serving as his
friend's best man when Bob
married Oregon State coed
Patricia Kelly on June 15,
1951.
Bob and Pat's marriage
lasted 59 years. It included
daughters, K.C. and Kelly,
son, John, and eight grandchildren. Pat, assistant publisher of The Villager, was a
beloved Charbonneau resident and community volunteer who died in 2010.
The Carls bought their
Charbonneau town home in
1977, and the Swans journeyed from mid-California
to visit them during the time
Bob was co-owner and publisher of the Roseville PressTribune outside Sacramento.
As it turned out, Bob and Pat
bought a home on Arbor Lake
Drive while still residing in
Roseville. They knew they'd
eventually move back to the
Portland area where they had
lived for more than 20 years
before their move south. It
was Charbonneau where they
wanted to be.
I met Bob in 1968. He had
just sold his interest in the
Milwaukie Review, which he
bought in 1962, and became
editor of the Portland Daily
Journal of Commerce. I was an
aspiring PR (public relations)
guy, and part of my job was
to land my company's name in
print. Bob's business newspaper was important to me. His
“Swan's Song” column was a
must-read for most anyone in
business.
What started as a business
relationship became a personal friendship. Bob became
a mentor and confidant, even
advising me on a couple of job
opportunities.
During our get-togethers
and getaways, we'd talk about
the communications industry,
swap stories about sports and
have lots of laughs and the
occasional debate. Bob was
never bashful with his opin-
Bob Swan, (l) Naval picture and (r) caricature.
ions. Being around him could
be a real adventure.
He introduced me to two
establishments
owned
by
an old friend and fellow Oregon Stater. Gene Spathas
owned Claudia's, Portland's
first sports bar, and the Steak
& Skewer restaurant and
lounge. The lounge was a
popular haunt for businessmen,
sportswriters,
town
characters and even marketing types, like me. You often
would hear the booming voice
of a prominent car dealer,
cozied up to the bar, as you
pulled up and stepped out
into the parking lot.
Bob had a passion for newspapering. He also had a passion for Oregon State athletics
that started with his Corvallis
roots where his father, Grant
“Doc” Swan, was head track
coach at Oregon State for 37
years. His dad also probably
contributed to his son's competitive nature and, at times,
downright stubbornness.
Doc was a world-class distance runner as an undergraduate at Oregon State,
who just missed making the
1920 U.S. Olympic team due
to an injury. So competitive
was Doc that in a dual meet
in Eugene he led the mile run
by such a distance that he
turned his back and ran the
final 100 yards backwards
while thumbing his nose at
www.charbonneaucountryclub.com
the Ducks who followed. He
was undefeated in three years
as a collegiate miler.
Bob, president of the OSU
Alumni Association in 1964,
had close friendships with Oregon State head coaches Tommy Prothro and his successor Dee Andros. Both guided
Beaver football through some
glory years. Bob was also
close to Johnny Eggers, the
one-man publicity machine
who promoted quarterback
Terry Baker during his Heisman Trophy-winning year
in 1962.
Bob's friendship
with Ed Knecht, an assistant coach under Dee Andros,
continued long after Ed's retirement in Corvallis. For decades, Bob was a donor and a
prime season ticket holder in
football, men's basketball and
women's gymnastics. He'd invite Oregon State co