Our Crimson 50 series honors Cougs who have been making gifts to Washington State University for 50 years. Their enduring generosity has created lasting opportunities for students, faculty, and communities across Washington and beyond. Each Crimson 50 profile shares their journey—from first gift to most recent—and their reflections on philanthropy, WSU, and the indomitable Cougar spirit.
Their Story
John Swenson was studying in the pharmacy library in College Hall when he spotted a young woman he hadn’t met. He learned she was a work-study student for Dr. Les Benet, so he went to Benet’s office and asked who she was. Benet looked up from his reading. “Why?” That was the end of that. The dean’s office proved friendlier—a secretary supplied a first name, Claudia, and the student directory did the rest. Claudia was from Ephrata, Washington. She was a lifelong Cougar, born in Colfax while her dad was finishing his WSC business degree in 1949. Claudia completed her first year of college at Whitman but transferred to WSU, where the pharmacy work-study program and scholarships covered all her expenses.
John had come to Pullman from Anacortes with pharmacy in mind, persuaded by a family friend back home who’d gone to WSU. A campus visit with his parents and a genuine welcome from Dean White sealed it. He would be a Coug. Once there, he threw himself at everything but his grades: a fraternity, tenor sax in the marching band, a part in West Side Story. A PE class in men’s gymnastics turned into a varsity spot when the coach spotted his knack for tumbling—until the NCAA dropped tumbling as an event and left him, as he puts it, “a man without a cause.” He landed next on the Yell Squad, where he and partner Barbie Vaughn were named Yell King and Song Queen. Barbie, later Barbie Olson, stayed a devoted Coug until her death; John still calls her his partner.
When Claudia accepted his proposal, John had joined the Navy Reserve to finish his degree during the Vietnam War. They married at St. John’s Cathedral in Spokane, then pursued two pharmacy careers at once: Claudia transferred to UC San Francisco to finish her degree, while John logged internship hours, earned his license, and served for two years at Alameda Naval Air Station. He went on to lead what is now called the Washington State Pharmacy Association and to precept students at three universities. Their son, Erik, a WSU graduate in English and biology, now teaches at Chula Vista High School in San Diego. In 2018, the couple created the John and Claudia Swenson Endowed Scholarship in Pharmacy. Today, that scholarship, along with their previous support for additional annual scholarships, has helped nearly 40 Cougs start down the road the Swensons once walked. John and Claudia will extend their impact at WSU through a lasting legacy by including the university in their will and designating it as a beneficiary of their retirement plans.
First Gift: $25 in 1969 to the Annual Giving Fund
Five Questions
The pharmacy program is what drew me to WSU in the first place. We had a family friend back in Anacortes, a pharmacist who’d gone there, and when I visited with my parents and met Dean White, that pretty much settled it. Once I arrived, I got immersed in everything—the marching band, the YMCA new-student program, and then its student advisory board, eventually two years on the Yell Squad. I was supposed to be studying somewhere in there too. I was not a straight-A student, need I say more. But all of that is what made the place mine, and it’s what’s kept us connected ever since.
What got me the most was the friendliness. I’d been over to the University of Washington with some high school friends, walked around campus, stopped by a fraternity, and to me it just didn’t feel as warm. At WSU, people smiled and said hi. Dean White was genuine with my parents when we talked about the College of Pharmacy. I guess the current lingo would be ‘the vibe’—and the vibe was right.
A lot of my career has been spent as a preceptor. You can’t get licensed without supervised hours, and over the years, I precepted students from WSU, the University of Washington, and Oregon State. I’ve lectured at WSU as well. Helping bring along the next pharmacists matters to me, and that’s exactly what the university is in the business of doing. And then there’s that warmth again. Dean White was a warm, hospitable man, and meeting him set the tone for everything—it’s something we’d want WSU to hold onto.
Like other Cougs, I always hope for success for WSU academics and research and the success of students as well as Cougar Football. And so, I hope that success builds on more success!
The obvious one for me is the College of Pharmacy. That’s where our scholarship is, and it helps students like Claudia and me, who counted on scholarship money ourselves—in my case not straight out of high school, I guarantee you. If the university gave you the education that led to a career you’re happy with and good at, that’s all the more reason to give back and thank it. I’ve been blessed in a lot of ways, president of the Washington State Society of Hospital Pharmacists among them, and when you trace it all back, it started in that little town in eastern Washington called Pullman. I think that’s important.