Charles Dwelley


Charles "Chuck" Muth Dwelley was a community activist of Skagit County and the owner and the editor in chief of The Concrete Herald newspaper for over forty years from 1929 to 1970. Many of his editorials were quoted nationwide in Reader's Digest, The New York Times, etc. and occasionally referred among professional journalists as "Dwellisms". He served as the president of the Washington State Publishers' Association in 1957–58, received multiple awards in journalism, and repeatedly represented Washington state in National Editorial Association.

Personal life

Dwelley was born in Mount Vernon, Washington on March 8, 1908 into the family of Charles Lemuel Dwelley and Mary Elizabeth Muth Dwelley. He was often referred to as "Chuck" to distinguish him from his father. The family had two other children, Chuck's older sister Dorothy and Chuck's younger brother William.
Dwelley's father, Charles Lemuel, was the fourth child of Joseph F. Dwelley, one of the first settlers of Skagit County who arrived in Washington from Kittery, Maine in 1870. Shortly after Chuck's birth, in 1910, the family moved to Anacortes, Washington where Chuck's father worked at a pulp mill until his retirement. Chuck graduated from Anacortes High School in 1925.
Dwelley was married three times. He married his first wife, Helen Lyle Grubb of Anacortes, on June 13, 1927. Following Dwelley's employment opportunities, the couple first moved to Sedro-Woolley, then in 1929, to Concrete, Washington to work for The Concrete Herald. Their only child, Arthur "Art" Gilbert Dwelley was born on February 6, 1930. The couple lived on the top floor of the building where they published the newspaper most of their life until they divorced in the summer of 1961. Helen moved to Mount Vernon in July 1961 where she died in 1969.
Dwelley remarried on January 1, 1962. His second wife, Alice May Hurn was born in Three Lakes, Washington in 1913. A widow with four children, before moving to Concrete with Dwelley, she was a treasurer in the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church near Three Lakes in Snohomish County, Washington. Alice died on May 6, 1967 at the age 54.

On March 16, 1968 Dwelley remarried again. His third wife, Helen Lenore Pemberton held a journalism degree from Washington State University. She worked at an internal publication with General Dynamics Corporation and left her job to live with Dwelley in Concrete. In the early 1990s, the couple moved to Tenino, Washington to live with Dwelley's son, Art. Charles Dwelley died on September 30, 1993. He was buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery at La Conner, Washington. Helen moved to California where she lived until she died on November 18, 2011, at almost 101 years old. She was buried next to Dwelley's grave in La Conner.
All three of Dwelley's wives assisted him in writing for The Concrete Herald, and his son Art followed his father's trade. He also was a community activist; he edited and published another local newspaper, Tenino Independent, and later became a local historian until his death on October 10, 2000.

Career in journalism

Dwelley started his career as a journalist working for the Anacortes Citizen newspaper in Anacortes, Washington where he lived since his early childhood. After his marriage, he moved to Sedro-Woolley to work for Courier Times. In 1929, his boss Frank Evans, the editor of Courier Times, sent Dwelley to Concrete, Washington in an effort to save a failing local newspaper, The Concrete Herald which Evans just purchased.

The Concrete Herald

Evans and Dwelley assumed the ownership of the newspaper and its debts, reincorporating it in 1930. Shortly afterwards, the depression struck. The financial situation around the newspaper remained dire throughout the 1930s. In one incident, Dwelley invited his readers to pay for the newspaper issue that he couldn't publish due to medical reasons in order to help pay for his medical bill.
Living with his wife and a new-born son in the same building where he operated Linotype machines, young Dwelley worked hard and managed to make the newspaper work, eventually paying out all the debts and buying out Evans' share. He is credited with "rescuing the failing Concrete Herald," Many of his peers, including a fellow editor and a politician, Sim Wilson, noted Dwelley's accomplishment of maintaining a profitable newspaper in a small town. From 1930 to 1943, the population of Concrete slightly declined, but the number of Herald's subscriptions rose by 67%.

World War II interruption

On March 27, 1944, Dwelley learned that his younger brother William was killed in the European theater of war and voluntarily enlisted in the Navy. He received boot training at Farragut, Idaho, then graduated with honors from the Torpedo School at Naval Base San Diego as Torpedoman Third Class in December 1944. Dwelley was assigned to the Seventh Fleet and stationed in the Admiralty Islands. As it became apparent that the Navy has a surplus of torpedomen, in April 1945, he was assigned to Manila, Philippines as a shore patrol officer. Dwelley returned to Seattle on a liberty ship on December 10, 1945 and was discharged at Bremerton, Washington on December 16, after serving 21 months.
During this time, Dwelley's wife, Helen Lyle, edited a truncated version of Concrete Herald from April 1944 to November 1944, but then couldn't keep up. From November 2, 1944 to May 31, 1945, the newspaper was completely suspended.

Libel controversy

In 1956, The Concrete Herald and Dwelley personally were sued for libel by Jacob Koops, a police judge of the city of Lyman, Washington in connection to Dwelley's editorial comments published in July 1955 on the conduct of Koop's office. At that time, a Washington State Supreme Court decision imposed serious limitations on criticism in newspaper columns. The proceedings lasted almost three years, but the court eventually acquitted Dwelley and his paper, which Dwelley celebrated with an 80-point bold headline "WE WON", outmatching the headlines proclaiming the end of World War II.

Concrete Herald at its zenith

Since 1949, Dwelley's editorials editorials were cited on the radio throughout the country, reprinted in nationwide publications such as Reader's Digest and The New York Times, praised for its "wry sense of humor" and referred among professional journalists as "Dwellisms".
Dwelley believed that editorials are an integral part of a local newspaper, and that editors should express their personal opinions to make local newspapers interesting and worthy. He also advocated in favor of short editorials as more effective means to deliver the point to the audience.
In 1951, over 75% of Herald's subscribers were local residents of Concrete, but throughout the 1950s, The Concrete Herald subscription base was rising to include all upper Skagit Valley from Lyman in the west all the way to Newhalem in the northeast. In 1956, Herald was believed to be "one of the finest edited newspapers in the state." By 1957, the circulation of Herald has exceeded the population of Concrete.
Dwelley's editorials won first place awards of the Washington State Press Club two years in a row, in 1949 and in 1950. In 1952, he was at the center of attention again and labeled "Ladies' man" by his colleagues when Ladies' Home Journal picked Dwelley among four best editorial writers in United States. In the same year, Dwelley won the second place award from the Washington State Press Club for distinguished reporting.
In 1951, Dwelley published a special 44-page edition of Concrete Herald commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the paper, for which he received first-place award from National Newspaper Association.
From 1953 until 1957, Dwelley and his wife Helen themselves became judges of the Washington State Press Club contests. In 1958, when he was off the panel of judges Dwelley won another first place award for excellence in community service. The latest award the Dwelley received with Concrete Herald was the first place in Newspaper leadership contest in April 1970.

The sale of Concrete Herald and its aftermath

In September 1970, just passed 40 years of editing the newspaper, Dwelley retired, selling The Concrete Herald to Robert and June Fader. Dwelley corresponded with the paper's new editors, praising occasional "scathing" editorials. In 1989, however, Herald's readers were "shocked" when the paper was sold to an opportunistic businessman with no experience in publishing, John Falavolito. In two years, The Concrete Herald failed and ceased publication.
Eighteen years later, in 2009, a local resident of Concrete, Jason Miller, revived the newspaper in both paper and electronic formats. The successful resurrection of the paper version in the digital age came as a surprise for the publishing industry and reportedly "rejuvenated" local community.

Activity in journalist organizations

After Dwelley's editorials received national attention in 1949, he was given the floor to share his thoughts on newspaper editorials with the members of the Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association. In 1950, he was elected the secretary of the Association. On November 17, 1950 at the University of Washington, Dwelley was initiated in Sigma Delta Chi.
Dwelley served on the Advisory Committee for the Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association in 1952–53 and on the Finance Committee in 1954–55. He was elected to serve as the vice-president of the Association in 1956–57, and, finally, its president in 1957–58.
Dwelley represented Washington State in the National Editorial Association in the Freedom of Information Committee in 1953–54 and in Editorial Page Committee in 1956–57.

Retirement

After the Herald's sale in 1972, Dwelley's family moved to La Conner, Washington where he continued writing and editing. For years, Dwelley kept writing a column "The Bridge Tender" for a local newspaper, Channel Town Press and published and edited a few history books, including a history of Concrete and Skagit Memories. He was also elected an honorary lifetime member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association, occasionally attending its gatherings.

Activism

In addition to editing and publishing The Concrete Herald, Dwelley was actively engaged in the local community. Since 1929, for 40 years, Dwelley had been fighting the dust pollution of Superior Portland Cement Company which operated a large cement plant in Concrete. Led by Dwelley, the community group from Concrete has successfully involved senator Lowell Peterson, conducted a dust emission study that proved a pollution level more than ten times over acceptable levels, and eventually pushed for creation of Northwest Air Pollution Authority. Five days after the first meeting of the State Air Pollution Control Board, the plant operator made a decision to close down the plant completely.
Dwelley also fought for the development of local infrastructure, and from 1948 he led the campaign that resulted in the construction of the North Cascades Highway. He was elected president of the North Cross-State Highway Association in 1959 when the construction project was underway. Through his editorials, Dwelley successfully campaigned for the construction of the first bridge across Skagit River in the upper valley. In August 2006, a plaque honoring Dwelley's efforts was mounted on this bridge.
For several years, Dwelley also presided over the Concrete Chamber of Commerce. In 1960, Dwelley received Lions Clubs International award for his community services to Concrete.

Literature cited