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 An
Oregon public school teacher for
43 years and an advocate for senior
citizens for another 25, 92-year-old
Robert Slawson of Bend received
the 1999 Alumni Award of Excellence
from Western Oregon University.
“I feel overwhelmed
and also have a feeling of humility
to have been chosen to receive …
the award,” said Slawson, class
of 1929. “I realize that there
are others just as deserving. To
receive this highest honor given
by the Alumni Association definitely
will be the top highlight in my
life.”
That statement says
quite a bit, considering the many
highlights in Slawson’s lifetime,
first as a teacher and coach and
then as a volunteer. So many events
and anecdotes stand out in his sharp
memory that a simple afternoon of
conversation could never cover them
all.
One of Slawson’s
most intriguing tales comes from
his early years as a principal at
Sandy Elementary School. There from
1931 to 1936, he boarded in the
home of a man who ran a pool hall
in the back of his barbershop. While
this didn’t bother Slawson,
apparently the school board wasn’t
quite as resilient. Told he couldn’t
associate with the likes of a pool
hall and must live elsewhere, the
young teacher was incensed. After
only five years as a teacher and
three in Sandy, Slawson was ready
to call it quits altogether. Fortunately,
he stuck with it
and continued teaching throughout
the state until retirement in 1972.
At Cascade Junior
High in Bend for the last nine years
of his career, Slawson and wife
Evelyn settled in the Bend area,
where he has continued to make an
impact on the communities of Central
Oregon. With various commitments,
he’s dedicated his efforts
to improving the quality of life
for senior citizens. Why? “I’m
no good at cabinet work or working
with my hands,” he jokes.“I
decided to work with people instead.
I’d always gained many friends
and enjoyed people. I guess I would
enjoy it or I wouldn’t do it
for 25-plus years.”
In that time, he’s
made probably as many friends as
pupils he’s taught. The founder
of the Bend Meals on Wheels program
in 1976, Slawson has continued to
lead fund-raising efforts for the
past 23 years. In the mid-1970s,
he was named to the Central Oregon
Regional Housing Authority by the
Deschutes County Commission and
chaired the authority for two years.
Soon after, he was named to fill
a vacancy on Governor Victor Atiyeh’s
Commission on Aging and was reappointed
to a full three-year term in 1981.
During his tenure on the commission,
Oregon’s major accomplishments
on senior citizen issues included
the elderly abuse bill passed in
1983 and several pieces of legislation
directed at improving nursing homes.
In addition to governmental work,
Slawson gained recognition for his
volunteer work with terminally ill
patients through the Hospice of
Bend program.
His list of volunteer
accomplishments continues on and
on, but perhaps his greatest triumphs,
he says, are to have made an impact
throughout his life and to have
lived all 92 years to their fullest.
And living life to its fullest is
exactly what he’ll continue
to do. For a man who loves to shoot
hoops and received a backyard basketball
court for his 87th birthday, there’s
too much going on to sit back and
watch it all go by. His favorite
piece of advice comes from a plaque
he found at a little store in Yellowstone
park.
“Don’t
regret growing old. It’s a
privilege denied to many.”
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