1. Dean A. Schwinabart was born March 10, 1966 in a military hospital in
Landstuhl, Germany. During the first few months of his life, Dean’s mother and father
thought that he would become a race car driver when he grew up. He loved to spending
time in his baby walker traveling around the house. Dean would start in the living room
on the carpet and go to the kitchen, and when he got to the kitchen he would be going
fast enough that he would set back and coast across the room to the wall. Then Dean
would start cracking up Dean started to walk at 9 months old; it would have been
amazing to see him walking that young. Dean spent the first two years of his life in
Germany. He lived on a Military Base, so most of the people he associated with were
American.
Dean spent the early years of his life moving a lot because his dad, Dale
Schwinabart, was in the US Air Force. He lived in many places such as Germany, San
Antonio, Texas, Corvallis, Oregon, Tacoma, Washington, Felixstowe, England, Duluth,
Minnesota, and Austin, Texas, all in the first 15 years of his life. Dean was very lucky to
live in all these places. He was able to explore the world as a child and experience many
things that most other people never get to see. This life style made Dean become the
kind of person he is today. He is very flexible and easy to adapt to new places and new
ways of life. Dean has said he is very happy that his parents selected Oregon as their
permanent place of resistance.
Dean’s dad Dale was from Elk Garden, West Virginia and his Mother Gloria was
from England. They met when Dale was stationed in England. Dean has 3 uncles, and 2
aunts on his dad’s side and they all live in West Virginia and Maryland. Dean also has 8
cousins that live in that area as well. On his mother Gloria’s side of the family he has 3
uncles, and 2 aunts that live in England. He also has 10 cousins that are living in
England too. His grandparents on both sides are deceased.
Dean has a brother named Troy who is his only sibling. Dean is 4 years older than
his brother Troy. Troy was born in San Antonio, Texas on May 1, 1970. Dean has always
been a person that Troy looks up to. There were not many things that Troy could say he
was better at than Dean, because Dean was so good at what he did.
Dean and Troy share many memories of their childhood in photographs of them
together. One of them was when Dean was in Felixstowe, England with his brother and
him playing on the beach and in the sand and water. Another one of the pictures that
Dean has showed me was him and his brother in Duluth, Minnesota playing in the snow.
These are just some of the memories that my family has seen of Dean.
His brother and Dean have said they had a very special childhood. Their mother
was a very caring, loving person. The only real sad experience Dean has had was losing

2. his mother to cancer when she was 57. Unfortunately she passed before her
grandchildren were born, and they never had the pleasure of meeting her. Dean has told
us that if she was still alive she would be very proud of her grandchildren.
My dad’s education was very interesting because of his life. As a child Dean went
to many schools do to his father career in the military. My dad’s education must have
been a real challenge for him, I could only imagine. As a young boy like myself I know I
would not want to move so many times. I know my dad didn't have any choice in the
matter; however I’m sure it affected him a great deal. My dad must have hated to pack
up every time after just getting settled in, and feeling like he was apart of a great sense
of being. Dean was good at creating new friends because he had to do it so many times.
The bad news was when Dale and Gloria had to tell Dean and Troy that it was time to
pack up again. As a young child my dad had to spend time away from his dad because
he didn't have a choice in where they were shipping his dad off to next I could not take it
for very long if I couldn’t see or talk to my dad. When Dale Schwinabart retired from
the military there family came back to Oregon to live after much of Dean’s teenage life
he started in Philomath high school as a Sophomore.
My grandpa told me that Dean went to Linn Benton Community College and
attended school there for a very short time after graduating from High School. Like
some students Dean was just trying to figure out what life was going to be about. Dean
put college on hold for about 7 years, during that time he started working at a local mill
and then the mill business crashed and the mill shut down. He also got married to my
beautiful mom Darla and that was when he knew he wanted to have children so he
decided he needed to have a career change so he could support a great family. My dad
was all about planning ahead for the future.
After the mill closed, Dean decided to return to LBCC. Apparently this was a very
good decision. He became acquainted with a fellow student who happened to be the
manager of the Cancer center at Good Samaritan Hospital. Her name was Lynn Gates.
Lynn suggested that Dean come by the Cancer center for a tour and that was when he
decided he wanted to be a Radiation Therapist.
Fortunately Dean was accepted into the Radiation Therapy Program at Belleview
Community College in Belleview, Washington. Dean has spoken many times about how
difficult it was for him to get back into the student mode again. My mother has talked
about the many hours they spent studying together memorizing all the medical
terminology, etc. Dean spent 2 years in this program which included not only college
course, but on the job training (internship) with local hospitals.
This program required internship training during the summer months between
school years and 3 months after completing the program. Fortunately, Dean was

3. accepted at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis for this training, and also he was
hired as a Radiation Therapist at this facility upon completing and he had obtained his
license.
Devin has been told many stories of how good Dean is at his profession. They say
it takes a person with a big heart and much compassion to deal with patients everyday
that are fighting cancer that takes away so many lives each year.
During Dean’s college career he made the “Deans List” for almost all semesters. The
Deans list if you didn't know is a list of students that achieve a high standard in High
School, College, or University. This means that my dad made this list not because of his
name (Dean) but because he had very good grades. Dean had to work very hard to
achieve that honor and his family was very proud of him.
Dean was a very active person and got into sports and hobbies early in his life. He
primarily enjoyed fishing, hunting, baseball, and golf.
His interest in fishing began while he was living in Corvallis, Oregon between
ages 5 and 8. His father was very into Steelhead fishing at the time and Dean would
spend a lot of time with him on the river. His father told Devin that Dean caught his first
Steelhead at age 7. He was very proud of Dean because the fish weighed right at 14
pounds.
Dean continued his fishing while they were living in Duluth, Minnesota. Some
people know this but Minnesota is called the state of 1,000 lakes. Dean's Dad had a boat
and they would spend nearly every weekend fishing in. He has told Devin many stories
of a lake the enjoyed the most. It was called Island Lake, because the lake had so many
little islands in it. They would go there on Friday afternoon, put the boat in the water and
go find an island that no one else was on. They would set up a tent and spend the rest of
the weekend there camping and fishing. Dean has told his son Devin how much he
enjoyed camping here, because sometimes his dad would let Dean drive the boat when
they were fishing.
Dale has said that after leaving Minnesota, Dean didn't get back into fishing until
Dale retired from the Air Force and when they came back to Oregon. Since then he has
spent lots of time with his fishing pole. Dean has gone fishing everywhere and gone
fishing for lots of different kinds of fish. Not only was he after Steelhead, and Salmon,
but he was also fishing for Sturgeon.
Dean also got into his hunting hobby early in his life. Devin has heard about
Dean's experience in Minnesota when Dean and a friend decided to set traps to catch
snow shoe rabbits. His dad told Devin a story about when they caught a skunk in the
rabbit trap and decided to skin it and take the skin to the youth center on the base. They

4. came home laughing because the smell nearly caused the youth center director to lose
her lunch. Devin's Granddad also said it took lots of soup to get the smell out of Deans
close.
Dean really got into the hunting hobby after his returned to Oregon. His primary
interest is hunting elk and deer. He mostly hunts with a compound bow and arrow, but
Devin has heard several stories about hunting trips with a rifle. Troy has told Devin
about about when him and Dean were on that Troy say Dean shoot a deer in the back of
the head while it was running away from them. On another hunt Troy said that he had
filled his hunting tag when he shot a forken horn buck. They were walking back to their
vehicle when a deer ran out of the woods in front of them. Troy said that Dean slowly
raised his rifle and whistled at the deer, the deer just stopped, turned and looked at the
them and then Dean shot it.
Devin's Granddad told him that Dean loved baseball at an early age. He played
for a team in a summer league in Duluth, Minnesota. He was a pitcher and played 1st
base when he was not on the mound. His Dad said he was a excellent pitcher, but was
also very good with a bat. His team won the league championship and Dean also was
selected as the starting pitcher for the All-Star team.
Devin's Grandpa told him that Dean became very interested in golf when he was
about 11 years old. They lived about 100 yards from the golf course on the Bergstrom
Air Force Base in Austin, Texas. Golf was really inexpensive at that time so Dean's dad
signed them up for a membership at the golf course. Dean was able to walk the course
every day during the summer months. Many of the members really liked him so they
took him with them on the golf cart to play every day. It was uncommon for him to play
a least 36 holes of golf every day. Also, the golf professional at the course really like
Dean and gave Dean free lessons. Dean was very lucky to learn how to play golf the
right way from the very beginning.
Dean joined the golf team when he was a junior in high school in Austin, Texas.
Unfortunately he was unable to continue high school golf because they moved to
Philomath, Oregon and the school didn't have a golf program.
Devin's mom Darla says that Deans has a great love for all of his hobbies that he
participates in. She feels that if Dean had to pick one hobby, even though he loves them
all. Dean would pick fishing hands down. Fishing is his most loved hobby, its the
hobby that allows him to be outdoors and to be able to take time with his family. For
Dean that's the most important part to him.
His children play a very special role in his life. Dean has always wanted to be
able to share the love of his hobbies with his family. This is what allows him to be the

5. loving and happy dad that he is today, and that is why he is loved so very much.