Swain, Edna Mary 1927-2014

SWAIN, FORD, RICHARD

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 2/26/2026 at 17:05:36

Edna Swain
1927 - 2014
Johnston, IA

Edna Swain, age 86, passed away January 2, 2014 at Bishop Drumm Care Center, Johnston, where she had been a resident since 2007. Mass of Christian Burial will be 9:30 a.m. Monday, January 6, 2014 at Our Lady of Peace Chapel, Bishop Drumm. A visitation will be 1 hour prior to the mass. Burial will be made next to her husband in Victoria Cemetery, near Massena, IA.

Edna Mary Richard was born at home on a bayou north of New Orleans, LA on February 24, 1927 to Mary Alice (Ford) and Morris Joseph Richard. She and her only sister, Betty Katherine, graduated from Sophie B. Wright High School in New Orleans. Edna met her husband, Louis Edwin Swain while he was stationed in New Orleans with the military. They married and Louie brought her back to Conway, IA, and a tornado destroyed the town shortly thereafter, and they moved to Clarinda. Edna worked in the dietary department at nursing homes and the State mental Hospital while there.

Her husband died suddenly in an accident and Edna raised their three sons on her own. She later moved to Omaha for a brief time, and then to Des Moines in 1980. She was a member of the Basilica of St. John and Catholic Daughters. Edna learned to drive when she was 55 years old. Until her retirement, she worked at Mercy Hospital Medical Center in the Dietary Department for 25 years.

Edna is survived by her three sons, Raymond and his wife Candy of Ottumwa, IA; Morris and his wife Charlene of Griswold, IA; and Roy and his wife Linda of Mexico. She also leaves several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and sister.

Memorials may be made to her church. Condolences may be left at caldwellraddatz.com
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by the Des Moines (IA) Register on Jan. 5, 2014.