Far left, David Schwartz, 1955. Above, Dave Schwartz flipping sausages, Lions Club Pancake Breakfast 1998.

“‘Beautiful Butts and Buns,’ that title brought attention to our contest entry,” David Schwartz of Lopez Island said as he reminisced about the Pig War Barbeque Competition, a fund raiser for Friday Harbor Theater held in the 1990s. His laughter deepens as he shows a picture of the team that includes the Rydbergs, Phillips, Giedd-Clarks, and the Schwartzs. Pig noses, songs and costumes helped gain them awards for entertainment. Barbeque was secondary. Good times and good works are motivators for Dave.

Born in Seattle in 1939, Dave soon moved with his family and his dad’s work to Montana and then to California. He followed his father’s footsteps by graduating from the University of Washington. His grandfather and father bought a zinc refinery, Pacific Smelting Company, in Torrance, California, where Dave worked for 26 years.

Reclaiming pure zinc from scrap metal and industrial residue was a secondary business. “Zinc oxide is used in ointments and sunscreens,” Dave said. “The dust is utilized as a rust preventative in paint and in gold recovery in major mines around the world.”

“Preventing rust through the galvanizing process for steel is one use of metallic zinc,” Dave explains. “Zinc oxide, 3/10 of a micron in size, is a component for rubber manufacture and was sold to major tire manufacturers on the west coast and into the mid-west. As a catalyst in the vulcanization process, zinc makes the curing time accurately predictable and consistent.”

For years, the largest use of zinc was die castings of automotive parts. An alloy consisting of about 93% zinc is the perfect product for forming the fine detail of carburetors, fuel pumps and other auto parts. With the 1970s oil crisis and cutting down the weight of cars, a switch was made from zinc to aluminum based die casting.

There was also a change to small spare tires which decreased the zinc oxide business by almost 20%. Changes closed many of the west coast tire plants leaving most production in Oklahoma and Texas. “To cut the cost of freight, we built a new zinc oxide plant near Memphis, Tennessee,” Dave said. After six years, the company was sold to a large international firm. “We became paper pushers. That’s when I retired, loaded up and made a direct line from there to Lopez Island.”

Dave met and married the former Janet Pickering while living in California. Her grandparents moved to Lopez Island in 1922 to buy the local telephone exchange. Janet was born and lived on Lopez until she was eighteen when she moved to Los Angeles. The pair met while working for the same company and Janet introduced Dave to Lopez. Two of their daughters, Mary Grace and Virginia, live in the San Juans, Jennifer and son, Reed, live in the state.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I got here, but this is where I wanted to do it,” Dave said about their move to Lopez on April Fools Day, 1987. He worked with Pat and Margie Roe at Island House Realtors for several years and, when they retired, bought the business about 1990. With daughter, Mary Grace he owned the Fogged Inn at the ferry landing for a couple years.

Dave discovered an interest in community involvement while at the University of Washington. “It was like someone flipped a switch,” he said. During his freshman year, there was an invitation to join together and light up his residence hall. The windows of some rooms were dark, some were lit and others were decorated with paper cut outs. The result turned the entire building into a sign. “It made Life Magazine,” Dave said. “After that, I looked for other activities I could help with.”

He carried that attitude to Lopez where he has been involved with numerous boards and organizations including 22 years with the Lions Club where he was initially introduced as a Lopezian by marriage; five years with the Thrift Shop where he served as president; six years on the Catherine Washburn Memorial Association Board and chair of the search committee for a new physician following Dr. Dengler’s retirement; 18 years on the North Lopez Water System Board; the San Juan County Board of Realtors; and Lopez Chamber of Commerce president for seven years. During ten years under his ownership, Island House Realtors distributed 12,000 U.S. flags on July 4th.

The family hosted Chinese English teacher, Yang Hui, from Szechwan Province during her year of teaching at Lopez School. That experience and her continuing communications are a highlight for Dave.

Following his second retirement in 2006, Dave is “snow birding” to Arizona where he is establishing a relationship with his brother. The two men were raised apart from each other.

“Get out in the community, see how much fun you can have, what good you can do, and the places you can help,” Dave concludes.

David Schwartz