Dr. Patricia Swenson (Mrs. Daryl L.), was born in Seattle, Wash., and died at home in Portland on Jan. 5, 2010.
She attended Western Washington University for her B.A., Columbia University for her M.A. and New York University for her doctorate in mass media. She married Daryl L. Swenson in 1955, a long-time KOIN-TV engineer who died in 1983.
She was employed by the Portland Public Schools as General Manager of KBPS AM/FM, and for a decade served as the supervisor of television for the School District along with her position as supervisor of radio.
After 46 years as KBPS manager, she resigned in 1994 to help enable the station to continue funding the necessary on-air staff in the face of the unexpected withdrawal of school district dollars, a result of its severe budget crisis. Dr. Swenson continued working pro bono with the KBPS Public Radio Foundation as co-chair of development, fundraiser and grants writer, and as KBPS Foundation Endowment Chair.
The Foundation of volunteers and citizens following her leadership raised the dollars which helped bring to fruition in 1992, one of Dr. Swenson’s “long-held dreams,” the construction of an efficient, modern, million dollar KBPS Broadcast Learning Center. The fully equipped broadcast facilities were then presented to the school district by the citizens’ group. A first for Portland.
Dr. Swenson pioneered television program productions in Portland, both for the classroom and for after-school teacher professional growth meetings. She sought and secured in 1983 the funds for the FM channel at 89.9 FM, bringing to Portland a unique 24-hour classical music and cultural arts resource. This had been repeatedly requested by both the community and the administrative leaders of the school district.
Another unique achievement, with the help of the AM station’s citizens’ group, was the creation of the on-air radio program service entitled the “KBPS Seeing Sound.” It was requested of Dr. Swenson and KBPS in 1973 by blind and handicapped citizens in the community. Sighted listeners enjoyed this special program service as well.
The station’s foyer wall is covered with award plaques from both instructional and cultural programming developed and aired during her tenure. Dr. Swenson always praised highly the KBPS staff, which from the early 1920s (KBPS went on the air in March 1923) had achieved high quality innovative programming despite the very inadequate and cramped station quarters. March 1998 brought the 75th birthday celebration of KBPS AM to Portland. Dr. Swenson chaired the research and planning for the on-air and community event. KBPS graduates came from all over the country and others, including many professional colleagues, sent messages.
Among the many honors Dr. Swenson received were: the National Headliner Award from the Association for Women in Communications and their Edith Knight Hill award for professional excellence; the Oregon Journal’s Woman of Achievement Citation; her seven-year elected term to the National Public Radio Board; and professional broadcasting award plaques from the Consortium of Public Radio for Oregon and the Oregon Association of (Commercial) Broadcasters.
Dr. Swenson also headed several Corporation for Public Broadcasting committees and represented public radio in the United States at the International East-West Center Asian-American Women in Broadcasting Conference in Honolulu.
Dr. Swenson was a member of and active in the Portland Branch and State Division of the American Association of University Women, and belonged to: the Urban League, OMSI, the Oregon Zoo, the World Forestry Center, the Association for Women in Communications, the Portland Art Museum, Oregon History Center, the Portland Audubon Society, and the Oregon Humane Society where she served as a volunteer, among many others.
Dr. Swenson had no surviving immediate family relatives. Her ashes will be placed in the family plot in Bayview Cemetery, Bellingham, Wash. At her request, there will be no funeral.
Dr. Swenson loved boats and salt-water beaches in the San Juan Islands, and was a staunch defender for animals. Remembrances may be made to the Orcas Chapter of the Animal Protection Society of the San Juans, P.O. Box 1484, Eastsound, Washington, 98245. Dr. Swenson worked many years to help establish an animal shelter here.
