Experiencing the effect poverty has on individuals and the community at large is nothing new to Delores Swanson. Born in 1942, Delores grew up in the aftermath of the Great Depression era. Life was a struggle for most people in those days, but it was especially difficult for a divorcee/single mother during the 1950 and ‘60s. Delores credits her mother for teaching her to be self sufficient, resourceful and believing she could accomplish anything she set her mind to do. During her mid-60s, Delores began a new career as a case manager at the Olympic Area Agency on Aging, hoping to make a difference for the better in the lives of the elderly and disabled in Grays Harbor County. “I’ve lived a remarkably full life,” she says. “But I believe everything I have done in the past has prepared me for what I am doing today.” Delores’ message is one of encouragement to all those baby boomers coming into retirement age – that no matter your age or economic status, it is never too late to do whatever it is that brings you happiness and a sense of fulfillment, whether it is a new career or pursuing a lifelong dream. If there’s a will, there’s a way—you just need to get out there and do it!
When I was seven years old, my mother and I boarded a bus in Vancouver, Washington and headed east to Newton, Iowa to start a new life. It wasn’t easy. My mother was a divorcee and a single mother. Divorces weren’t common in the 1950s. Back then, it was a social stigma to be divorced. A divorced woman was looked upon with suspicion and distrust by society as a whole. That stigma carried over on to me as well as a child of a divorcee. We had no place to live, so we stayed in a woodshed behind a friend’s house that had no lights, no insulation, and no heat. There was a bed and that was it. We would cuddle closely under the blankets together to keep warm, but it was still so very cold. Thankfully we were there only a couple of nights when my mother found work and was able to move us into an apartment. I think one of the major lessons I learned from my mother was that if there is a will there is a way and if you want it bad enough you can accomplish it.
It was hard at school. Newton was a very small town and I was often teased because of my mother being divorced. I learned quickly you had to make your own way yourself. I made sure I was always busy. I was into every activity I could get into. I was in band, orchestra, ballet and toe. I was on the first ever girls basketball team. After school, my babysitter was the library because my mom had to work three jobs to support us. So I grew up in the library. After I read every book in my age group, the librarian, who knew my mom, would help me pick out books in the adult section that she knew my mother would find acceptable.
When I was a junior in high school, we moved back to Vancouver, Washington and my mother remarried. It was hard on me to move from this little town and away from my friends. I had to give up so much: my biology club, Camp Fire Girls, the Horizon Club, basketball, ballet and toe and my music. There was no more dancing for me, or band. It was hard, but I didn’t let it stand in my way. I went and did things I wanted to do and was interested in. I loved nature and exploring the forests. I loved to draw and I was forever sketching.
In my 20s, I worked in a sweatshop in Seattle. I was a wonderful seamstress – I even designed and made my own line of clothing. But, at the sweatshop, I did piecemeal work. They paid mere pennies for every bundle you completed. It was hard work, but I was really fast and could really put out a lot in a day. I made really good money doing that. And I was doing something I enjoyed doing!
Later in life, I enrolled at Grays Harbor College to earn a degree in anthropology. I’ve always been interested in people from other cultures, their way of living and the foods they would eat. One day I saw a poster on the bulletin board about an opportunity to be part of an archeological dig. I filled out the application and was accepted, which gave me the opportunity to attend a field school at the University of Utah and camp out on top of the mesa. It was so much fun that I applied for a scholarship offered by Berkeley for a medieval dig in Ireland. I was accepted for that as well. It was such an awesome experience finding and touching things that were thousands of years old. I loved it. At that time, I would never have guessed my life path would lead me to a career in social services. But I was a single mother at this time too, and had responsibilities.
When I returned from the dig, I found that I had to move from the farm I had been renting because the owners wanted to sell it. There was no place for a single parent and her son to go and I had all these farm animals too. I was a spinner and had been raising four different types of sheep for about six years in an effort to create a new type of wool that was long and strong. I had to take my sheep and auction them off. I was heartbroken. Fortunately, someone told me about some property on a hill in North River. I was lucky enough to rent the property for $30 a month. There was no house there. My son and I lived in a tent at first. It was just a great life. We would bathe in a big plastic tub that was a grain barrel at one time. It was a rough way to go, but we had water and we found a septic tank. We got tired of washing our clothes in the tent and winter was approaching, so I managed to find us a camper. It was small but it was warmer. Eventually, we began building a cabin inch by inch by inch. I didn’t have much in the way of tools so I improvised when I needed to. For a level, I used a glass of water like the Egyptians did. I climbed up the ladder and my son would hand me up the tools and materials I needed. I’ve never built a house before. If I didn’t know how to do something, I went to the library and looked it up.
Years later and we are still building. Now however, my son climbs the ladder and I hand up the tools. For a long time we lived with no hot water and electricity. Recently, my son figured out how to build an inverter and now we have enough electricity for light to get ready for work in the morning and enough to watch a two hour movie at night.
A lot of people don’t understand why I live this way. It’s simple. I love it. I love being in the country surrounded by nature. I always have. I have a daughter that lives in Boulder, Colorado. She offered to buy me a house in town. I don’t want to live in town with the noise of cars and trucks driving by all the time. It is so peaceful on my six acres of land.
You know, I strongly believe that everything happens for a purpose. One time many years ago, I was in downtown Portland heading home from work and had stopped to get gas. I forgot to turn my headlights on and was getting ready to cross Burnside when I got pulled over by a cop. He asked me where I was going and when I told him. He said that it’s a rough neighborhood and that I need to lock my doors for safety. So I locked them right there and then. I took my exit and at the very first light, a man ran up to my driver’s door and tried to yank it open. If I hadn’t been stopped by the police just moments before, my doors wouldn’t have been locked and who knows what may have happened. Another time, I saw a young street girl and started talking to her. She was crying and cold and looked to be about 16 years old. I was worried about her being alone on the streets, so I took her home with me. The next day my stepfather
came by my place to visit and he recognized this young girl as a missing child from posters at work. She was the missing daughter of one of his employees. We were able to reunite her with her family. These things happened for a reason.
I never set out to be a social worker. It’s just where my path has led me. I was offered a job as a case manager’s aide, and after a few years I applied for an opening for a case manager position. After a few interviews they finally hired me. I really believe all those different experiences in my life, like camping on the mesa in Utah, the medieval dig in Ireland, growing up in Iowa, working in the sweatshops in Seattle – all these things and more – played an important part in who I am and what I do today. Like so many of my clients, I know what it’s like to be poor and to not have all the basic needs and advantages most people take for granted. I think being older has also been an asset for me as a case manager because I grew up in the same generation as most of my clients. Right there alone, we share a common bond.
I love both my work and my lifestyle. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing at the end of the day that I was able to do something to make another person’s life more comfortable or better. It is just so rewarding. And then at the end of the day, I get to leave the city behind and return to nature and my home in the forest.
I could retire, but I’m not done by any means. I have no plans to retire for at least five more years. In the meantime, I will continue to keep building on my dream house in the woods, one 16’ x 16’ section at a time. And I’m seriously thinking about going up to Grays Harbor College to enroll in some art classes. I so love doing art and will have a beautiful studio in which to paint when my house is done. It’s never too late to follow your dreams and make them a reality – just do it!
~Interviewed & transcribed
by Barbara Remmem
