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Share thisFaculty Spotlight: Paul Shewan
Paul Shewan chose to learn trumpet after hearing it in a movie as a young boy. He and his brothers grew up playing duets together and singing Christmas carols around the piano. He doesn’t remember his parents ever prodding them to practice. As his father, Bob Shewan, recalls, “We never had to. If anything, it was ‘Come on, kids! We’re going to bed – we want you to stop playing!’ They’d go out in the garage, and we could still hear them. No stopping ‘em.” For the Shewan family, music was simply a way of life. After all, both parents were music teachers. Nancy was an elementary general music teacher. As Bob lovingly recounts, “When she taught at Portville, the principal said to me, ‘She’s the best teacher I’ve ever known.’ I asked, ‘Best music teacher?’ She said ‘Best teacher.’”
Music wasn’t the only activity that bound the family together. The boys enjoyed wrestling and softball. Paul fondly recounts many a wrestling match that ended up in a fight. “But, you know, siblings fight,” he explains. “Otherwise, we got along very well.” His dad smiles in response: “Well, yes, typical boys. I used to laugh at them.” The three boys played fast-pitch softball with their dad until he was 50 years old. When asked about their relationship, Paul simply says, “I think it was pretty easy, Dad.” “Well, you were easy. You guys were just not difficult,” Bob responds. However, when the time came for Paul to choose a career, neither wrestling nor softball would win. He chose to pursue music because, as he puts it, “It was the only thing I had.”
In contrast, Paul’s father had not grown up in a musical home. When he was about 15 years old, he was home on a Saturday afternoon and turned opera on the radio by accident. “I couldn’t get over it. I was dumbfounded. I was just taken in by it,” he vividly reminisces. Listening to opera became a weekly activity, and his friends soon joined him. He would hitch-hike 7 miles down to Wilkes-Barre, PA and bring libretti home to follow along with the operas.
As a boy, Bob had no intention of going to college, but his parents wanted one of their sons to go and asked if he’d be willing. He went to Mansfield State Teachers College to study music. “That’s how it happened,” he recounts. “If my parents hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have gone to college. But there it was.”
Both father and son eventually came to teach at Roberts. When asked what brought him to Roberts, Bob simply answers “The Lord.” He had visited the music department as a consultant when Dr. Schoenhals was president. The department wasn’t doing well; they had 25 music majors, and 12 of them were graduating that year. Bob was offered the position as Chair, but neither he nor his wife was interested. Through prayer, they both individually came to feel called to Roberts. Nothing made sense or worked out right away, but they came. That was in ’69. He stayed as Chair for 28 years.
One of the first things they did was acknowledge to the faculty, “We don’t have anything, so we’re just going to start praying.” They prayed a lot about the students and ended up getting 40 students that year. Paul remarks, “Not having anything makes you rely on the Lord.”
When Paul’s job opened up, Bob went to the president, Bill Crothers, and asked, “How would you feel about my son applying for that position?” He said, “If you can get him, get him!” And that was all there was to it. Paul had been at his public school job for 5 years and was just starting to enjoy it. As he recalls, ‘I was really liking it, and I thought, “Wow, I don’t know…” It took me about 30 seconds, and then I said, “Yeah, I wanna do it! That would be great.” So, it didn’t take too long.’
That was in ‘88. Paul conducted the Wind Ensemble and taught Music Education and brass. After completing his doctorate, he returned in 2003 and began conducting the RWC Community Orchestra.
Their father-son relationship as co-workers was very much the same as it had been during Paul’s childhood. “Again, it was easy,” Paul remembers. ‘He’d say, “Here you go. Take it; do what you want.” And we’d go over our ideas together.’ His dad agrees, “We did a lot of things together. We have fun together, don’t we?” “Yeah.”
Written by Emily Hutchinson, 2018
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