Terry Swanson:
CLASS OF 1965
Edmonds High SchoolClass of 1965
Edmonds, WA
Terry's Story
Update 2021: I get to see Chuck Anderson once or twice every year when he comes thru the Phoenix area. He has driven almost every Interstate and HWY across all of the lower 48 states. Denise Fortin Kennedy and I got together a few years ago, and I have been in contact with Marcia Pennington over the last few years. I always thought her name was spelled Marsha, but she told me that Marcia is correct. We learned that Marcia's first husband was the brother of my girlfriend (Ballard High 1965) when we were at EHS in 1964--She is still one of Marcia's best friends. Gary Smith and I got together every couple of years in Utah at places like Zion, Bryce Canyon, etc. until he passed away in 2019 from complications due to Diabetes. Gary loved to find fossils and would schedule trips to dig for them in Utah & Wyoming. I have seen Scott Jones, our Senior class Treasurer. Scott a few times on different hikes. He has a deep resonant voice that belongs on a radio station. He lives in St George, Utah and Florida.
Hard to believe that I have been retired for 22 years and that I have gotten to explore so much of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, California and West Texas. Hiking, exploring, photography, and reading are my main hobbies and I do something related to each of them everyday. There is a Mtn 1 mile from where I live that has a couple dozen trails and I hike 2-3 miles everyday gaining about 800-1000 feet of elevation over rocky trails. Photoshop is becoming second nature for me. Some of my photos have been published in books and there are around 4K people who follow me. I have a facebook account under my name, but have not been active recently. I post 3-4 new photos every week (Google FLICKR and tlswan2 and you will find it) and you can see some of my photos of the places I visited in the last 3-5 years.
There are tens of thousands of ancient ruins and rock art sites from 2000 BC to 1200 AD and I have gotten to see and photograph more than 5000 of them since retiring. Most of them require driving over 4x4 trails, sometimes in deep sand and then hiking 1-6 miles to the site(s). The latest photo I posted of myself was taken during the Fall of 2019, where I am sitting next to 1000+ year old petroglyph panel about 40 feet above the Little Colorado River. Life is a blessing and I hope all of you are also enjoying life and God's creation and experiencing GOOD HEALTH.
ORIGINAL POST:
I am amazed that it is going to be 50 years since we graduated. It has been nice to see some of you in the last couple of years. Denise Fortin Kennedy was in Phoenix for the Superbowl and we had lunch on 1/30/15. She is doing great, has her own company and loves ...Expand for more
her work. While in the middle of the desert about 80 miles NE of Las Vegas I met a guy wearing a 12th man T-Shirt. After talking for a few minutes I discovered he was from Edmonds and graduated in 65 (Scott Jones EHS 65 Class Treasurer). Scott is taking care of his mother in St George Utah, but longs to go back to Florida. His voice has an amazing resonance that radio announcer would be jealous of having. We have gone hiking a few times together around SW Utah. Gary Smith (EHS 65) and I met in Vernal Utah and we went exploring for a couple days. He is an active hunter and fisherman now delving into hunting for fossils.
When in Viet Nan friends of mine died and I never thought I would make it to my25th birthday. Now were getting close to 70 years old. One of my best friends, Mike Hoban (EHS 66) never made it home, dying in Vietnam in August 1969. His father, Hobie, was the woodshop teacher and like a 2nd father to me. Mike and I used to skip school, take their boat out of Edmonds harbor and go fishing around Picnic Point and Point No Point. About 3 weeks before graduation Henie Sorenson (EHS Vice principal) called me into his office, told me I had missed 21 days in the last 3 months and if I missed one more I would not graduate.
From being a goof-off who never did homework at EHS, the military forced me to grow-up. Itt also made me realize I did not want to do manual labor the rest of my life, that I enjoyed the sciences and realize I needed a college education. I ended up being much more focused and was in Electrical Engineering Bachelor, Masters and PHD programs at the UW. At the same time I worked at Honeywell Marine System in Ballard and lead ministries in Churches and taught lots of Bible classes. Now-a-days, people consider me a scholar and have told me since the early 80s that I should be a Pastor or a Seminary Professor so I went off and completed Masters and Doctorate programs in Biblical Theology.
In the mid 90s I got depressed with the Seattle weather and came up with a plan to retire, which I did in 1999 from Boeing and moved to Phoenix. Since then I have really gotten involved in exploring the Southwest's landscapes, ruins and rock art. Currently I am helping a Hopi Elder by providing photographs for a book he is writing on the Migration Traditions of the Blue Flute Player Clan. Some of my photos of places I have been in the last year
are on FLICKR under tlswan2 (web page address was not allowed by the site).
I have been blessed with health, friends and feel content that I am right where I belong. I hope each of you feel the same and pray that Your best day so far in your lives will be the worst day in your future! May God Bless You!
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Reunions
Photos
