Dennis Strong leaves his mark on La Conner

Dennis Strong and his family began spending summers in La Conner in the mid-1950s, as did Clayton and Barbara James. They met through Ruth Pennington's Fidalgo Allied Arts summer art school, where James found his calling in ceramics and Vera Strong was teaching weaving.

Their relationship and those made with others were nurtured over many summers spent in La Conner.

As Peter Strong, Dennis' son, recalls, "I remember walking down the middle of First Street in that quiet town, taking art classes from Clayton James, Joe Petta and Guy Anderson. It was an idyllic place for a boy like me and my siblings."

During those first years, Strong was a teaching fellow and graduate student at the University of Washington. Upon receiving his PhD, the family moved to his first teaching position at Princeton University. Within two years, Strong was offered a position at University of California, Riverside, which he accepted, and then at Claremont Graduate School. Being back on the West Coast, the family returned to La Conner during the summers.

In 1966, Strong took a position at the University of Washington. He wasted no time coming back to La Conner to purchase a lot downtown. Today it is 109 Commercial Street. In 1967 he purchased the brick building next door, now 721 South First Street and 105 Commercial Street. This building became his home from which he commuted to the UW campus.

In an article published in the Puget Sound Mail in 1966 Strong said, "I enjoy more real living in a week in La Conner than in a month in the big city."

Strong had one more real estate adventure in La Conner with Tore Dypfest, who bought the Lighthouse Inn in 1971. On the Lighthouse Inn property stood the old Fred Eyre Grocery building, which Dypfest wanted gone. He offered it to Strong for free for hauling it away. Strong had it moved to the lot he owned, where it stands today.

Strong served on the Town of La Conner's Planning Commission from 1971-1974.

His last home, bought in 1981, is a 20-acre property on Pleasant Ridge. He died peacefully there on May 21, 2023.

Strong and James left their marks in La Conner and it is befitting that both of them will be remembered in the beautiful new La Conner Swinomish Library. James' untitled sculpture has found its home there, thanks to a gift from Dennis Strong.