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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2004)
14 .may ¿1.20« ikH H ¡ i i H V J M m e w s W orth a T HOUSAND W ords The story behind a gay septuagenarian's picture reveals a life filled with love, loss and legacy by Tom Stevenson I 1 Most Diverse Dealership in Hubbard! Family Owned Since 1936 One of Only 200 Female Owned GM Auto Dealers in the Nation M°F9:oo-7:oopm Where the Heck is Hubbard? Sat 9:00-6:00pm Closed Sundays I Wilsonvilte | Canby Integrity, Quality ami Service 1-888-470-2188 www.hubbardchevrolet.cam Woodburn Only 30 min from Portland Just Ott I-5 between Canby & Woodburn Ä M 2 linical THal You manage your THERAPY. You manage your LIFE. Do you manage your LIPID LE V E L? Ask your doctor about LIGHT Lipid Impact with Guided HIV Therapy W e ore conducting a research study LIGHT CUNICAL TRIAL to determine whether switching your 100 otease inhibitor effectively reduces C id levels w M e continuing to suppress the H IV virus. Study participants w ill continue taking other prescribed SPONSORED BY BRISTOL-MEYERS SQUIBB COMPANY anti-HIV medkations. To qualify for this program, you must: To learn more, please contact: • Have a CD4+ cell count > 50 ceNs/m l • Have a viral load < SO copies per m l (undetectable) • Be on Kaletra* for more than 6 months If you take part, oil study-related Fanno Creek Clinic 2 4 0 0 S W Vermont Street Portland, O R 9 7 2 1 9 (503) 452-0915, Ext. 30 examinations and laboratory servkes will be provided. Some of your other anti-H IV medkations may also be covered. B M S V iro lo g y * V 1 V . I ■ Il I i ^ I . r/ tm l i l i . I ..i . / I L L i M I ufi il inifcniiir KoetM is o regBitreo irooemon ot n oon toooroiones • n . i u P- n ----- w m x n w n jq u t D o < « x n p e n v Jones (left) was in a committed relationship with Jack H. Swearingen for 41 years PHOTO BY MAHTY DAVIS t was a simple photograph, one o f many depicting the scene as gay and lesbian couples stcxxJ in line to receive their mar riage licenses from M ultnom ah County. T h e picture, w hich appeared in the M arch 5 edition of Just O ut, showed a lone man holding a sign reading: “Congratulations! 54 years ago I would have been in line with Y O U . W ith luck l may be in line in 2004, to o !” As often is the case, there was more— much more— to the story than met the eye. T he photo is of Nelson L. Jones, a youthful 74- year-old gay man who has called Portland home for the past six years. His story includes a wildly successful career as a schoolteacher, a 41 -year love affair with another man in the heart of conserva tive rural Oregon, a successful record in business and the joy of finding love again the latter part of one’s life. And that is only the beginning. Nelson L. Jones celebrates same-sex marriage Jones held the sign that day in part to rec M arch 5 outside the M ultnomah Building ognize those who were standing in line and in was the area Jones would lcxsk for his own teaching part to celebrate. “1 was see;ng things happen ing that 1 never dreamed I would see in my life job. In addition to earning degrees in both chem istry and physics, he had also received his teaching tim e,” he says. certificate. He found a job at Sweet Home High Jones’ story begins in a small town in south School, where he would deliver chemistry and eastern Kansas. He says he was just like any other physics lessons for 25 years and receive the child in the era, beginning work at age 9 as a folder at the local newspaper. Through his high “Teacher of the Year” honor several times. T h e couple took a year to get acclimated to school years he worked at a grocery store as well as a battery and tire place, ran a printing press life in Oregon, with Jones making the long 50- and jerked sodas, saving his money for college. mile commute between Eugene and Sweet Home. (That was in the days before the free He went on to graduate from a Texas college way.) Swearingen then decided he wanted to in 1957 and serve in the U .S. A ir Force. W hile buy a small farm— despite the fact neither had in the military he had one of the highest securi any farm experience— and it was Jones who ty clearances. It was around this time that he finally found a place less than a mile from met Jack H. Swearingen, the man who would be Brownsville, which is located between Sweet his lover and soul mate, for 41 years, so he Home and Eugene. It was, at the time, far from learned to live quietly with the fear o f being dis being the place o f their dreams. covered as a gay man. “Jack rook one look at it and said, ‘Absolute T h e couple soon loaded up their 1957 ly no way,’ ” Jones says with a laugh. “But he Chevrolet station wagon and made their way to knew a wealthy woman in Eugene who had the W est Coast, where Swearingen, who held bought a lot of real estate, and she went out to graduate degrees in English, philosophy and kx)k at the farm. She told Jack that if he didn’t economics, had found a job as a professor at buy it, he would regret it for the rest o f his life.” University o f Oregon. They purchased the 130 acres o f land and Before leaving they had taken a road map and placed a quarter on Eugene, and inside the circle the “so-called house” that sat on it. Jones says
