Bernard Hamilton, 13 June 1928 - 19 Mar 2008

HAMILTON, SWALE

Posted By: Netha M Meyer (email)
Date: 3/23/2008 at 22:02:47

Bernard (Mort) Clarence Hamilton was born June 13, 1928 in Independence, Iowa, the son of Bert & Ruth Hamilton. He grew up on a farm south of Winthrop, Iowa, where he helped with chores using horses and hand labor, spending many hours after meals singing and playing music with the family. His first eight years of schooling were in a one-room country schoolhouse taught by Mrs. Nellie Foster. He graduated from Winthrop High School in 1945. Mort and Mary Louise Swale, of West Union, Iowa were united in marriage on June 4, 1949 at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa. They lived in various places before settling in Winthrop to raise their children, Charles, David, and Rosemary. Their early years in Winthrop found Mort working at the Great Plains Lumber Yard and running the Standard Station. He worked eleven years for Fawcett’s Furniture and Funeral Home before shifting his career to the telephone business. He spent five years at the East Buchanan Telephone Cooperative and then moved to Victor, Iowa where he was manager for 20 years of the Cooperative Telephone Company of Victor, Hartwick, Guernsey, and Ladora, following in the footsteps of Russ Gabriel. Scouting claimed much of Mort’s time for 19 years, acting as Cub Master and then Scout Master of Pack and Troop 104 and later as District Commissioner. He was pleased when his two boys became Eagle Scouts and later his daughter’s three children rose to the highest rank in both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. With the family, Mort went to Philmont Scout Ranch for training in 1966 and returned for Wood Badge training in 1970. Mort & Mary loved to travel in their Airstream spending many winters in Florida near St Augustine and visiting their children around the country. They enjoyed living in their home on County Line Road where they fed the birds and had a large garden, often sharing flowers and vegetables. Due to his declining health, they moved to Bowie, MD in January 2006 to be near their daughter. Mort passed away at their home in Woodward Estates of Alzheimer’s Disease on March 19. He was 79 years of age. Mort was a member of the Victor United Methodist Church and for many years a member of the Victor Lions Club. He was preceded in death by his parents Bert and Ruth, also by two brothers, Everett and Fay. Survivors include his wife Mary of Bowie, MD, his three children Charles & Carole Hamilton of Clarksville, TN, David & Mary Hamilton of Houston, TX, and Rosemary & Daniel Kallemyn of Upper Marlboro, MD, four grandchildren Benjamin, Gretchen, and Mitchell Kallemyn, and Ted Hamilton and three great grandsons Simon, Caleb, and Levi Kallemyn, his sister, Lillian Postel of Motley, MN, and a brother, Gilbert Hamilton of Independence, IA.
Memorials may be directed to the Victor United Methodist Church.

Smith Funeral Home, Victor
Cedar Rapids Gazette 23 Mar 08, 5b