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T HOUSAND W ords
The story behind a gay septuagenarian's picture
reveals a life filled with love, loss and legacy by
Tom Stevenson
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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