Charles Muth Dwelley (March 8, 1908 – September 30, 1993) was a community activist of Skagit County and owner/editor in chief of The Concrete Herald newspaper for over 40 years, from 1929 to 1970.

A widow with four children, she was treasurer of the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church near Three Lakes in Snohomish County, Washington before moving to Concrete with Dwelley.

His third wife, Helen Lenore Pemberton (born December 14, 1910), held a journalism degree from Washington State University.

She worked on internal publication for General Dynamics Corporation, and left her job to live with Dwelley in Concrete.

"[18] Many of his peers, including fellow editor and politician Sim Wilson, noted the accomplishment of maintaining a profitable newspaper in a small town.

[25][26] On March 27, 1944, Dwelley learned that his younger brother William had been killed in the European theater of war, and voluntarily enlisted in the Navy.

[27][28] He received bootcamp training at Farragut, Idaho, and graduated with honors as Torpedoman Third Class from the Torpedo School at Naval Base San Diego as in December 1944.

As it became apparent that the Navy has a surplus of torpedomen, in April 1945 he was assigned to Manila, Philippines, as a shore patrol officer.

[27] During this time, Dwelley's wife, Helen Lyle, edited a truncated version of The Concrete Herald from April 1944 to November 1944, but couldn't keep up.

[31] At that time, a Washington State Supreme Court decision imposed serious limitations on criticism in newspaper columns.

[43] In the same year, Dwelley won the second-place award for Distinguished Reporting from the Washington State Press Club.

[44] In 1951, Dwelley published a special 44-page edition of The Concrete Herald commemorating the 50th anniversary of the paper,[45] for which he received a first-place award from the National Newspaper Association.

[47] The last award Dwelley received for his work on The Concrete Herald was first place in Newspaper Leadership, in April 1970.

[48] In September 1970, having marked 40 years of editing the newspaper, Dwelley retired, selling The Concrete Herald to Robert and June Fader.

[53] The successful resurrection of the paper version in the digital age came as a surprise for the publishing industry[54] and reportedly "rejuvenated" local community.

[6][19][17] He was also elected an honorary lifetime member of the Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association, and occasionally attended its gatherings.

[64][65] Led by Dwelley, the community group from Concrete successfully involved Senator Lowell Peterson in the issue, conducted a dust emission study that proved a pollution level more than ten times over acceptable levels, and pushed for the creation of the Northwest Air Pollution Authority.

[67] Dwelley also fought for the development of local infrastructure, and beginning in 1948,[68] led the campaign that resulted in the construction of the North Cascades Highway.