Frances Porter Swenson died of old age on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at her home at Dominican Oaks in Santa Cruz. She was 92 and had outlived her husband Robert Swenson, whom she dearly loved, by two years. Her six children, their spouses, many grandchildren, and her new great-granddaughter gathered around her in her last days.
Fran was born in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, on October 29, 1917, the daughter of William Porter and May Rich Porter. She grew up in a close family with her brothers Allan and Bill. Like most others of that generation, the wrenching financial uncertainty caused by the Great Depression made a life-long impact on her. Fran went off to Cornell College in Iowa, and she became the first member of her family to graduate from college. As a sophomore, she met Bob Swenson, a classmate who became the love of her life. Bob and Fran married in 1940, and she was his greatest supporter as he prepared himself for and practiced his chosen vocation of education. They both believed passionately in the equality of opportunity that public schools offered. Their equally important priority was family, and over the years they became parents to six children. Bob's path was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the US Navy. After the war, Fran and Bob moved west when the GI Bill made it possible for him to obtain his doctorate at Stanford. They embraced the warmth and natural beauty of their adopted state and in many ways lived out its post-war golden dream. Wherever they were, they participated in the local Methodist church, more for its emphasis on giving back to others than for any doctrine.
The growing community college system offered the opportunity for Bob, with Fran's assistance, to participate fully in advancing the promise of educational opportunity regardless of means. Fran and Bob lived and worked first in Orange County in the days when there were oranges for the picking. Wherever Fran followed Bob, she found friends and created the home to nurture their children. In 1959, when Bob was offered the presidency of the yet-to-be-built Cabrillo College, they moved to the seaside community where they and much of their family would spend the rest of their days. Fran quietly championed the realization of Cabrillo behind the scenes and kept the home fires burning as Bob became its public face over the next twenty years.
While she would deny it, Fran was a closet intellectual, and she was utterly without pretension. She loved literature, followed politics, cheered on political liberals, and had a lively and original mind. By her example, she taught her children that loyal and abiding friendships enriched life, and it was her women friends who brought out her irreverent sense of humor. Family was most important to Fran, and she defined that term broadly. She made each of her children and the mates they chose feel important and loved, and she also taught them that their home could expand to include those who needed a warm dinner and bed, whether it be refugees from war or from the school of hard knocks, or an occasional nephew who needed a semester away.
Fran is survived by her six children and their spouses: Bruce and Barbara Swenson, Mary Swenson and Hal Thurston, Carol and David Mann, Roger and Keri Swenson, Jean and Richard Manning, and Peggy and Ken Kaysen. She leaves twelve grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Services will be on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at 1 pm in the Recital Hall at the new Cabrillo College Performing Arts complex...---Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1/27/2010
Fran was born in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, on October 29, 1917, the daughter of William Porter and May Rich Porter. She grew up in a close family with her brothers Allan and Bill. Like most others of that generation, the wrenching financial uncertainty caused by the Great Depression made a life-long impact on her. Fran went off to Cornell College in Iowa, and she became the first member of her family to graduate from college. As a sophomore, she met Bob Swenson, a classmate who became the love of her life. Bob and Fran married in 1940, and she was his greatest supporter as he prepared himself for and practiced his chosen vocation of education. They both believed passionately in the equality of opportunity that public schools offered. Their equally important priority was family, and over the years they became parents to six children. Bob's path was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the US Navy. After the war, Fran and Bob moved west when the GI Bill made it possible for him to obtain his doctorate at Stanford. They embraced the warmth and natural beauty of their adopted state and in many ways lived out its post-war golden dream. Wherever they were, they participated in the local Methodist church, more for its emphasis on giving back to others than for any doctrine.
The growing community college system offered the opportunity for Bob, with Fran's assistance, to participate fully in advancing the promise of educational opportunity regardless of means. Fran and Bob lived and worked first in Orange County in the days when there were oranges for the picking. Wherever Fran followed Bob, she found friends and created the home to nurture their children. In 1959, when Bob was offered the presidency of the yet-to-be-built Cabrillo College, they moved to the seaside community where they and much of their family would spend the rest of their days. Fran quietly championed the realization of Cabrillo behind the scenes and kept the home fires burning as Bob became its public face over the next twenty years.
While she would deny it, Fran was a closet intellectual, and she was utterly without pretension. She loved literature, followed politics, cheered on political liberals, and had a lively and original mind. By her example, she taught her children that loyal and abiding friendships enriched life, and it was her women friends who brought out her irreverent sense of humor. Family was most important to Fran, and she defined that term broadly. She made each of her children and the mates they chose feel important and loved, and she also taught them that their home could expand to include those who needed a warm dinner and bed, whether it be refugees from war or from the school of hard knocks, or an occasional nephew who needed a semester away.
Fran is survived by her six children and their spouses: Bruce and Barbara Swenson, Mary Swenson and Hal Thurston, Carol and David Mann, Roger and Keri Swenson, Jean and Richard Manning, and Peggy and Ken Kaysen. She leaves twelve grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Services will be on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at 1 pm in the Recital Hall at the new Cabrillo College Performing Arts complex...---Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1/27/2010
Frances Porter Swenson died of old age on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at her home at Dominican Oaks in Santa Cruz. She was 92 and had outlived her husband Robert Swenson, whom she dearly loved, by two years. Her six children, their spouses, many grandchildren, and her new great-granddaughter gathered around her in her last days.
Fran was born in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, on October 29, 1917, the daughter of William Porter and May Rich Porter. She grew up in a close family with her brothers Allan and Bill. Like most others of that generation, the wrenching financial uncertainty caused by the Great Depression made a life-long impact on her. Fran went off to Cornell College in Iowa, and she became the first member of her family to graduate from college. As a sophomore, she met Bob Swenson, a classmate who became the love of her life. Bob and Fran married in 1940, and she was his greatest supporter as he prepared himself for and practiced his chosen vocation of education. They both believed passionately in the equality of opportunity that public schools offered. Their equally important priority was family, and over the years they became parents to six children. Bob's path was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the US Navy. After the war, Fran and Bob moved west when the GI Bill made it possible for him to obtain his doctorate at Stanford. They embraced the warmth and natural beauty of their adopted state and in many ways lived out its post-war golden dream. Wherever they were, they participated in the local Methodist church, more for its emphasis on giving back to others than for any doctrine.
The growing community college system offered the opportunity for Bob, with Fran's assistance, to participate fully in advancing the promise of educational opportunity regardless of means. Fran and Bob lived and worked first in Orange County in the days when there were oranges for the picking. Wherever Fran followed Bob, she found friends and created the home to nurture their children. In 1959, when Bob was offered the presidency of the yet-to-be-built Cabrillo College, they moved to the seaside community where they and much of their family would spend the rest of their days. Fran quietly championed the realization of Cabrillo behind the scenes and kept the home fires burning as Bob became its public face over the next twenty years.
While she would deny it, Fran was a closet intellectual, and she was utterly without pretension. She loved literature, followed politics, cheered on political liberals, and had a lively and original mind. By her example, she taught her children that loyal and abiding friendships enriched life, and it was her women friends who brought out her irreverent sense of humor. Family was most important to Fran, and she defined that term broadly. She made each of her children and the mates they chose feel important and loved, and she also taught them that their home could expand to include those who needed a warm dinner and bed, whether it be refugees from war or from the school of hard knocks, or an occasional nephew who needed a semester away.
Fran is survived by her six children and their spouses: Bruce and Barbara Swenson, Mary Swenson and Hal Thurston, Carol and David Mann, Roger and Keri Swenson, Jean and Richard Manning, and Peggy and Ken Kaysen. She leaves twelve grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Services will be on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at 1 pm in the Recital Hall at the new Cabrillo College Performing Arts complex...---Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1/27/2010
Fran was born in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, on October 29, 1917, the daughter of William Porter and May Rich Porter. She grew up in a close family with her brothers Allan and Bill. Like most others of that generation, the wrenching financial uncertainty caused by the Great Depression made a life-long impact on her. Fran went off to Cornell College in Iowa, and she became the first member of her family to graduate from college. As a sophomore, she met Bob Swenson, a classmate who became the love of her life. Bob and Fran married in 1940, and she was his greatest supporter as he prepared himself for and practiced his chosen vocation of education. They both believed passionately in the equality of opportunity that public schools offered. Their equally important priority was family, and over the years they became parents to six children. Bob's path was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the US Navy. After the war, Fran and Bob moved west when the GI Bill made it possible for him to obtain his doctorate at Stanford. They embraced the warmth and natural beauty of their adopted state and in many ways lived out its post-war golden dream. Wherever they were, they participated in the local Methodist church, more for its emphasis on giving back to others than for any doctrine.
The growing community college system offered the opportunity for Bob, with Fran's assistance, to participate fully in advancing the promise of educational opportunity regardless of means. Fran and Bob lived and worked first in Orange County in the days when there were oranges for the picking. Wherever Fran followed Bob, she found friends and created the home to nurture their children. In 1959, when Bob was offered the presidency of the yet-to-be-built Cabrillo College, they moved to the seaside community where they and much of their family would spend the rest of their days. Fran quietly championed the realization of Cabrillo behind the scenes and kept the home fires burning as Bob became its public face over the next twenty years.
While she would deny it, Fran was a closet intellectual, and she was utterly without pretension. She loved literature, followed politics, cheered on political liberals, and had a lively and original mind. By her example, she taught her children that loyal and abiding friendships enriched life, and it was her women friends who brought out her irreverent sense of humor. Family was most important to Fran, and she defined that term broadly. She made each of her children and the mates they chose feel important and loved, and she also taught them that their home could expand to include those who needed a warm dinner and bed, whether it be refugees from war or from the school of hard knocks, or an occasional nephew who needed a semester away.
Fran is survived by her six children and their spouses: Bruce and Barbara Swenson, Mary Swenson and Hal Thurston, Carol and David Mann, Roger and Keri Swenson, Jean and Richard Manning, and Peggy and Ken Kaysen. She leaves twelve grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Services will be on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at 1 pm in the Recital Hall at the new Cabrillo College Performing Arts complex...---Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1/27/2010
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