Born and raised in Portland, I graduated from the University of Oregon School of Journalism. I entered the Army in 1943. I emerged from thirty-five missions as a B-17 copilot in England in time to look for work shortly before the war ended.

I decided to begin my professional life at the Oregon Statesman newspaper in Salem because of the training I could get under the experienced managing editor, Wendell Webb and the reputation of the editor and publisher, Governor Charles A. Sprague. With the move to a new plant and the expansion of the paper, following the arrival of big stores and big advertising in 1954, there never seemed to be any reason to go anywhere else. Salem is a delightful place to live.

I was News Editor of the paper for the first twenty years, which meant I was in charge of putting the paper out at night, writing the headlines, etc. It was a wonderful job. In 1957, however, I decided to try for a Nieman Fellowship year at Harvard University and was selected. When I returned to the paper, I began writing editorials with Governor Sprague, which continued to the time of his death in 1969, when I became Associate Editor, in charge of the editorial page.

I'd supplemented my newspaper work with some community service. I was elected to the board of the Keizer School District in 1952. I'd served on various committees including being president of the American Red Cross board and a member of the Salem City Library Board. I was taken aback, however, when Mayor Vern Miller asked me, in 1968, to head up the Civic Center Committee and campaign. Twenty-six of us spent a busy summer defining the project and taking it to the public. On Sept. 30 it passed by a margin of 8,000-plus to 5,000-plus, creating the new City Hall, Library, and Central Fire Station.

The library has been a central focus of my community service. When former Mayor Miller had a stroke a few years later, I introduced the idea of a Salem Public Library Foundation, to help with his rehabilitation. It took off, and now has raised many hundreds of thousands of dollars to supplement library service.

In 1975 I was made editor of the Oregon Statesman. When the paper merged into the Statesman Journal, I became Chairman of the Editorial Board until my retirement in 1986. The following year I had the honor of being inducted into the Oregon Newspaper Hall of Fame. I've written a personal column in the newspaper for more than thirty years, which I continue to do in retirement.

My fifty-year marriage to Elsie ended with her death from Alzheimer's Disease in 1993. I am now married to Nell Crothers who was widowed in 1995. I'd worked with Nell in many community capacities over the years. We are enjoying life in our Salem apartment next to Bush's Pasture Park during the summer and at our Palm Desert, CA condo in the winter. I have four children and eight grandchildren.

And from his friend, Don Scarborough:
I remember many of Wes Sullivan’s exploits and his work in promoting the physical and intellectual growth of Salem, but his readers recall most vividly his special interest in helping his sons build a log cabin on the Siletz River in the Coast Range. Someone who used all the latest equipment to build his own cabin said in a column (I’m the guilty party) that Wes built his cabin using his bare hands and his teeth. No electricity; nothing but hand tools. An economic-minded person, he bought manual transmission cars with no gadgets. Hence his disdain for fancy power equipment. Wes wrote columns on many subjects but his favorite was this Siletz cabin. He wrote endlessly about its construction, each winter’s damage, and the long reconstruction process each spring.

His lifestyle in Salem has been simple and nature-oriented; when his neighborhood decided to keep porch lights on at night to deter crime, Wes turned his off to save electricity and the environment. He figured that the neighborhood was plenty safe. Crime, however, provided Wes with one of his most harrowing newspaper experiences. In the Great Prison Riot of 1968, (at the Oregon State Penitentiary) he and a Portland reporter were recruited on the spot to meet with inmates to hear their grievances. It was a scary moment, though he probably had gone through worse times as a World War II bomber pilot.

Wes’ life revolved around Salem, starting when its population was far less then half of today’s. His writings and office conversations recounted the progression of new and bigger homes to fit his growing family. Jam on the Ceiling is a compilation of Wes' columns, put together by his family as a surprise. Small wonder that he was so involved in helping direct the city’s growth. He’s always lived close to the heart of his city physically and emotionally.

Compiled by Virginia Green