Norman G. Swanson

Norman Gerald Swanson, 91, of Wakefield, Nebraska passed away Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at Providence Medical Center in Wayne. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4, at Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield; with Pastor Barbara Hansen officiating. Visitation will be 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Friday, April 3, at Bressler – Munderloh – Smith Funeral Home in Wakefield. Burial with military honors will be in the Wakefield Cemetery in Wakefield. Memorials are suggested to Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield. Arrangements are under the direction of Bressler – Munderloh – Smith Funeral Home in Wakefield. Norman Gerald Swanson was born in Julesburg, Colorado on October 21, 1923, the son of Otto A. Swanson and Martha L. (Carlson) Swanson. He was baptized on October 12, 1924 in a school that served as a church. He moved with his parents to a farm near Bloomfield, Nebraska and went to County School District 152 until 4th grade. The family then moved to a farm south of Wausa where he attended District 150 in Pierce County, graduating from 8th grade. At that time he left school to help on the family farm. While living in the Wausa area, he was a member of Thabor Lutheran Church, where he was confirmed in 1938. He worked on the farm until 1943, then moved to Omaha, where he worked for Omaha Steel. He was drafted into the Army but volunteered for the Navy. After receiving his discharge, he helped at home and drove a truck for Albert Clausen. He then took a job at K&K Kleaners in Wausa. He also worked for Burke Hardware, Carlson Home and Auto, and Anderson Farm Supply. On August 1, 1950, he married Alice (“Becky”) Hoskin in Callaway, Nebraska. On August 16, 1952, they moved to Wakefield, where they owned Swanson Implement, an Allis Chalmers dealership. In May, 1966, he went to work for the Wakefield School District as a bus driver, maintenance man and custodian until retiring on August 20, 1987. After that he worked part time at True Value. While living in Wakefield, he was a member of Salem Lutheran Church where he served several terms on the Church Council, 20 years in the Sunday School office, and sang in the choir and the men’s group. He served two terms on the Wakefield City Council and was on the Cemetery Committee and the Citizen Advisory Committee. He was also on the scholarship committee at the Wakefield Health Care Center. Norman is survived by his daughter Linda (Swanson) Nordby of Tallahassee, Florida; son Leslie “Bud” Swanson and wife Sandy of Norfolk, Nebraska; grandchildren Daniel Nordby and wife Rachel, Laura (Nordby) Jackson and husband Earl, Mary (Swanson) Kramer and husband Ben, and Amy Swanson; great grandchildren Colin Kramer, Andrew Nordby, Aliyah Jackson, Peter Nordby, Katherine Nordby, and Lydia Kramer; sisters Gladys Johnson of Trimont, Minnesota, and Leona and husband Eugene Wischhof of Wausa, Nebraska; brother-in-law Clarence Suhr of Wausa, Nebraska; and many nieces and nephews and their families. He was preceded in death by his wife, Alice “Becky” Swanson, parents, sister Helen (Swanson) Suhr; brother-in-law Allan Johnson, brother-in-law Edgar Daniel Hoskin and wife Margaret (Cobb) Hoskin; and half sisters-in-law Evelyn (Hoskin) Lammers, Vivian (Hoskin) Harvey and Maxine (Hoskin) Ewing.