Leslie Charles Swanson

Leslie C. Swanson, 97, of Moline, died Sunday, April 6, 2003, at Rosewood Care Center, Moline, following a short illness. Services are 10 a.m. Thursday at Trimble Funeral Home, Moline. Entombment will be in the mausoleum at Moline Memorial Park. Visitation is 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday. Memorials may be made to the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society Youth Education Endowment or a charity of your choice. Leslie C. Swanson was born Aug. 2, 1905, to Victor A. Swanson and Agnes Wyman Swanson. He was a friend of the legendary Bix Beiderbecke and last of the Final Five, local musicians who played with Bix. Less than a month ago, Mr. Swanson performed at the 100th Birthday Celebration for Bix at the Blackhawk Hotel. He was also the last surviving musician who played with both Bix and Louie Bellson, another Quad-Cities jazz great. With his four-way career of music, newspapering, photography and writing, Mr. Swanson led a vivid and complex life throughout his 97 years. Mr. Swanson's career in the music business continued for about 70 years. His first job was as organist for silent movies at the Strand Theater, East Moline, while still in high school. He also appeared on riverboats, playing piano, calliope or both on ten steamers, covering the entire length of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He met several prestigious people while playing at the Blackhawk Hotel in the 1930s with the Trave O'Hearn Orchestra. Mr. Swanson's accounts of his associations with Bix Beiderbecke have been included in several of the biographies written about the famous cornetist. Another contact was a young radio announcer by the name of Ronald Reagan, just out of college, who was serving as announcer for O'Hearn's band at a radio remote program direct from the hotel ballroom. Mr. Swanson kept in touch with Mr. Reagan for years and had several letters in Mr. Reagan's handwriting. They met again in 1992, when they got together at Mr. Reagan's birthplace in Tampico, Ill. In business, Mr. Swanson spent a number of years as a member of the editorial department of the former Daily Times, Davenport. Later he owned and operated a commercial photography studio in Rock Island, specializing in wedding candids and children's portraits. Some of his photographs of babies attracted national attention, appearing in two press syndications and papers across the country. Retiring from the photo studio in 1965, Mr. Swanson turned his attention to writing books about Americana topics, such as covered bridges, old mills, old canals, steam calliopes and country schools. He penned eight books and hundreds of magazine articles during his lifetime on widely diverse topics. He contributed stories and photos to the Sunday sections of the Des Moines Register, the Travel section of the Chicago Tribune, the Quad-City Times and many other publications. Written while in his 80s, ``Riverboat Gambling'' was Mr. Swanson's most recent book. This book coincided with the introduction of gambling boats in the Quad-Cities. Because of the book, he was featured on national television (ABC's ``Good Morning America'') and also played the calliope during the 1991 inaugural voyage of the Diamond Lady gambling boat in Bettendorf. Among Mr. Swanson's hobbies were TV sports, reading several newspapers daily, and golf, which he continued to play at Credit Island Golf Course in his 97th year. With his sharp memory of details and history of the Quad-Cities area, he was regarded as a prominent local historian in multiple fields. Mr. Swanson was a 50-year gold-card member of the American Federation of Musicians. Other associations included membership at First Lutheran Church in Moline, honorary membership in the historic Clover Chapel near Woodhull, Ill., charter member of the Catfish Jazz Society and former memberships in the National Society for Preservation of Covered Bridges, National Old Mill Society and the American Canal Society. Mr. Swanson was instrumental in the formation of the Winterset, Iowa, Covered Bridge Festival. He took part in the annual event until he retired from it in 1983 and donated his extensive displays to the festivals. He is listed in Who's Who in the Midwest and Who's Who in Entertainment. He was one of the last few survivors of the 1923 graduating class of Moline High School and the 1928 graduates of Augustana College, Rock Island. He married Gladys Huddleston in Davenport Aug. 10, 1940. On Oct. 7th, 1972, he married Mildred Hyler in Bellevue, Iowa. They shared many enjoyable trips on the Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen riverboats before she preceded him in death in 1988. Surviving are two daughters and their spouses, Vicki and Lee Wassenhove, Milan, and Wendy and Charles Jeffries, Hemet, Calif.; and a sister, Marian Blondell, and a nephew, Walter Blondell and wife, Pat, of Moline. He is also survived by three stepchildren, Dr. Gary Hyler and wife, Margaret, Mesa, Ariz., Gerald Hyler and wife, Sally, Correctionville, Iowa, and Sandra Brockhage, Bellevue, Iowa; nine step-grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. A younger brother, Robert, preceded him in death in 1975.