Memorial services for Paul Swenson, mentor to a generation of Utah writers and journalists as an editor at several Utah publications, will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Twin Peaks LDS Church ward house, located at 5290 S. Wesley Road (1130 East) in Murray.
Swenson was 76 years old when he died Feb. 2 in a local hospital after being found unconscious in his Salt Lake City apartment
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Paul Swenson memorial service
When » Saturday, Feb. 18, 11 a.m.
Where » LDS Church’s Twin Peaks ward, 5290 S. Wesley Road (1130 East), Murray.
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He began his career at the Deseret News, where at age 22 he covered the police beat, later moving to the rewrite desk, where he honed his skills as an editor. But it was through Swenson’s position as editor of Utah Holiday magazine, working with publisher Bob Coles, his former Mormon missionary companion, that brought a cadre of writers and reporters under his wing.
With film criticism as his first love, Swenson helped build Utah Holiday up from its founding days in Coles’ basement to a respected monthly city magazine.
"By the second issue I was recruiting all my friends to write for the magazine, and without really realizing it, I was becoming the editor," Swenson said during a 1977 interview with Dialogue magazine.
He was the youngest of 10 children born to Margaret and Dan Arthur Swenson, immigrants from Sweden who settled in Logan. Swenson grew up in creative circles, thanks in part to the legacy of the family’s eldest child, May Swenson, a celebrated poet.
After the 1989 death of his sister May, Swenson worked tirelessly to perfect his own poetry, publishing a 2003 collection titled Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake. He was working on another collection at the time of his death.
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