John Andrew SWANBERG

SWANBERG, VLIELAND, COUILLARD, JOHNSON, DZIATKOWSKI, STEWART, FORTIN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/31/2013 at 22:46:01

August 27, 1936 --- May 25, 2013

John Andrew Swanberg, the son of John Howard and Florence Violet (Vlieland) Swanberg, was born on August 27, 1936, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was raised and educated in the area of his birth. John served 3 ½ years in the United States Army Security Agency as a Chinese Linguist and received a Commendation from President Eisenhower.

On September 2, 1960, John was united in marriage to Penelope Couillard in Minneapolis. John began his career in the F. W. Woolworth Companies management program in 1961 and obtained his first store in Shorewood, WI. The family moved to numerous communities during his career, settling in Clear Lake to manage the Ben Franklin store in 1969. In 1986, they purchased the Ben Franklin store in Eagle Grove. They sold it and retired in 1998. John was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Bower Lodge #464 and had been a member of the El Kahir Shrine. John enjoyed playing golf, horseback riding and gardening – he would grow 15,000 gladiolas every year to sell. He was also a Green Bay Packer fan, Bee Keeper and insatiable reader - always reading about W.W. II and the European Theater.

John passed away on Saturday, May 25, 2013, at the Paula J. Baber Hospice Home in Fort Dodge, at the age of 76 years. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Joan Johnson. John is survived by his devoted and loving wife of 52 years, Penelope "Penny" Swanberg of Eagle Grove; daughters, Kristi Dziatkowski and husband Mitch of Omaha, NE and Karina Stewart and husband Paul of Omaha, NE; grandson, Christopher Dziatkowski and sister-in-law, Pamela Fortin of Halifax, NS.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, at Evangelical Lutheran Church in Eagle Grove at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Jason Cooper officiating. Visitation will be Tuesday, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. with a Masonic Service at 5 p.m. at the Foust Funeral Home, Eagle Grove. Memorials may be left to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children or Shriners Burn Institute.

Foust Funeral Home
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