Chuck Swanson

Outside of Ann I don't know anyone who would read this who would have ever heard me mention Chuck Swanson's name, but I can't help but jot something down about him here.
Chuck was a lifetime family farmer from Gilberts, near Elgin. I met him and his family when I started a photo story back in 2001. He and his wife Beulah were gracious to me at every turn, and the project was a great glimpse into farm life as it happens on the fringe of the suburbs.
Unfortunately, Beulah called me last week out of the blue to tell me that Chuck had suffered a massive heart attack and died. The news came as a huge shock, but I should note that he was a pretty big guy and also a lifelong smoker.
I stopped by the farmhouse today to visit with Beulah and ended up meeting another son and daughter of theirs that I had not met during the project. I sat with them at the kitchen table, the same place where I made this picture.
Here he's telling a story about a trailer of some sort coming unhitched from a truck and passing the truck on the road. It was hysterical at the time, and was always one of my favorite pictures from that project. We re-ran this photo with his obituary, and everyone told me today how much they loved seeing it in print and how they appreciated the story that accompanied the obit.
Now, at this point you might be thinking that I've really gone into "isn't Chris just such a nice guy" mode, but that's not my ultimate point here. Yes, it was great to hear the feedback about how much they appreciated the photos and stories over the years, even now during his death.
But what really blew me away were the comments Beulah made about things like Chuck always mentioning that he hoped to have time someday to hear more stories from me about Mexico, as he heard I had worked down there for a few weeks. His son and daughter told me today that as much as he loved to spread knowledge about farming to anyone who would listen, he had an equal thirst for knowing about new things, even foreign things.
Since the time I worked on the story Chuck and Beulah would call about various things that they either thought merited attention in the paper or just wanted to tell me about, since I was really the only person they had contact with at the paper anymore.
At one point while shooting pictures out at their farm, Chuck asked me if I would do him a favor and take some extra photos just for him while he posed on his tractor. I don't even remember if I gave him the negs, or burned a CD for him or what. I barely even remembered doing it until today when Beulah handed me a copy of the program from his memorial service this past weekend. The cover bears that photograph of Chuck, proudly anchored in the seat of his red tractor with his sprawling corn field behind him.
I was blown away.
"I hope you don't mind us infringing on your copyrights" Beulah joked as she showed me the program. How could I mind... it was quite an honor.
What really went through my mind as I drove back to the office was just how little I think about the impact we have on other people's lives. I mean, I did spend a lot of time with them during that project, but it's been several years now since I talked with them regularly. So to hear Beulah mention how often my name came up in conversation was something I won't forget. It's the part of my job that absolutely keeps me coming back. Despite the pay cuts and doomsday forecasts for our industry, the one thing that is the most important to me making that connection with people and getting to the point where they're not just subjects for the next day's paper, but people with really good stories to tell. And Chuck had lots of 'em.
He was a farmer to the core, and a local legend of sorts around here. Proof of that could be found in the 600+ people who waited in the rain Sunday to pay their respects.
He'll be sorely missed by his family and friends, and also by a newspaper photographer with whom he happened to cross paths.
God bless, Chuck.