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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2004)
may 21.2004' irrTTTîTTWScTSi news PHOTO BY Baptist Church be cause it was the only place large enough to hold the crowd. Five professional people spoke, including two doctors from Coos Bay and a professor from Southwestern Oregon Community College. All five spoke of the incredi ble love between Jones and Swearin gen, a true and pas sionate affair that had lasted 41 years. “I was publicly outed for the first time at his memori al service,” Jones Jones and his partner, Nader, attend a M ultnom ah C ounty Commission says simply. hearing to testify in favor of same-sex marriage M arch 25 H e was obviously the structure— which had been built by the worried as to what would happen next. But after Brown family, the tow n’s namesake— had “no the service, as acquaintances gathered at the foundation, very little of a roof, and it had not farm for a dinner, a good friend who worked as a been painted in over 50 years.” logger and a farmer pulled Jones aside and The ground at the time was leased out to placed his hands on both shoulders. another farmer, so the couple used the money “He told me, ‘I have never understcxxl, and from the lease and their full-time jobs to reroof now I do,’ ” Jones says. “A nd he also told me the house, install new gutters, put on a fresh that he approved. W hat I found was that people coat of paint and begin working on the founda shared what they had never shared before. It tion. It wasn’t much, but they were able to make allowed us to communicate. it habitable for the next 13 years. “It took me six years to get over Jack’s death,” “W hen the wind blew, the wallpaper actually says Jones, who credits his friends in Brownsville moved,” Jones recalls with a glimmer in his eye. for standing by him and encouraging him as he “But Jack said we wouldn’t do anything more to struggled through his grief. “But there finally the house until we could do the whole thing.” came a point where I knew it was time get on In the 1960s, after the lease was up, the men with my life. I knew that would be what Jack began farming. In the latter part of that decade would have wanted me to do.” they were able to get irrigation from the Shortly before Swearingens death, the cou Calap<x)ia River and began growing Oregon Blue ple formed a partnership with a man who Lake Pole Beans on 60 acres. T he nonfarmers opened what has become a highly successful found they had a wonderful knack for cultivating tethnological business in the Hcxxl River Val crops from the land. “I think we still hold the ley. Jones is still actively involved with that record for the largest number of tons of the high- company, and about six years ago he sold his est-quality beans grown in Oregon,” Jones says. farm and moved to Portland. He was free to be Each summer, when it came time for harvest, an openly gay man and get involved as such, and the two would employee hundreds of young peo he wasted no time. He became chairman of the ple and their parents. They Eastside Esplanade Project Advisory Committee, a mem grew to become one of the " / m ^ / / y fg j g g ber of th e mayor’s River largest seasonal employers tn i . i . • Renaissance Com m ittee and a the area. Along with the beans wlldt ¡5 taking plQCB.... they also raised hay and cattle. ’ i I a board member of a theater By 1972 the men finally had » " ° P e UiBgOll company. He also sponsors a the funds available to renovate play each year in Ashland. the house. They took nine A nd he has found love months, pouring in hundreds of again. T x lay he com m utes thousands of dollars, to reno betw een his art-filled S o u th — Nelson L. Jones east Portland tow nhouse and vate the home to the strictest of historical landmark standards. M arin C ounty, Calif., where They also created a stunning, parklike garden, his partner, Nader, lives. T h e pair plan on purchasing a new house soon and calling Port and today the new owners of the home use it as a bed and breakfast. land home. Swearingen, who had left U of O during the Looking back on his long life, Jones marvels 1960s, eventually began teaching at Southwest at society’s growing acceptance of gay people. ern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay. “I lived in fear for so many years,” he says, The couple later purchased a home in that town reflecting on his time w ith Swearingen. “We both could have lost our jobs had anyone as well, commuting between their two residences. Jones says Swearingen was the quiet one who found out. I am thrilled to see what is taking place. It is amazing to see w hat the courts are preferred to stay in the background. He, on the doing. I hope O regon continues to go down other hand, was outgoing and played many roles the right path. I think we will. W hen more in the Brownsville community. He was a mem ber of the Junior Cham ber of Commerce, char and more people see th at being gay does no t make a difference in how people a re ...it will ter chairman of the new community library and master of ceremonies at various events. only get better.” There is a soft and quiet silence as Jones Obviously they were known by everyone in thinks about his words. It is clear as he glances Brownsville, yet the “gay issue” was never raised. across the room at old photographs that the past Jones suspects some people might have figured it is still very much alive. |T1 out, but nothing was ever said— until one of the worst moments of his life. In April 1992, Swearingen passed away after T o m STEVENSON is a Portland free-lance writer and a full-tim e student at Portland State U niversity. suffering a massive heart attack. He was 70. The H e can be reached at ruraltom @ yahoo.com . memorial service was held at Brownsville First continues to go down the right path. 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