Born and raised in West Bridgewater, MA, she graduated from Colby College. She married childhood sweetheart Ronald A. Swanson and raised five children: Laureen, Ralph, April, Warren and Holly. She has eight grandchildren, Bradley Swanson, Mickey Swanson, Laurel Swanson, Emily Kates, Sean Kates, Michael Kates, Gabriella Ferrera and Asia Ferrera, and one greatgrandchild, Paige Swanson.
She was an early Bowdoin docent, and longtime board member of Brunswick Village Improvement Association. She initiated and ran the You Otter Recycle program at Brunswick Elementary schools for many years.
She was the first woman on the Brunswick Marine Resource Committee for 14 years. Dana Wallace (the Brain), Russ Pinfold (the Brawn) and Ellie (the Mouth) and many others passed the first Coastal Protection Zone in Maine which received recognition nationally in Washington (by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association) for this ground-breaking effort.
She worked eight years on the Brunswick Town Council, during which the Mere Point Landing finally got underway and is now a glorious asset to our community. She helped assure the new high school would be environmentally safe to coastal waters of Maquoit
Bay.
She was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church and member of the flower and properties committees and women’s alliance. She designed and help make the stained glass window in memory of daughter Laureen, which was destroyed in the church fire, but is now resurrected in the newly rebuilt UU church.
Dr. and Mrs. Swanson in their 60’s took five Elder hostel bike tours in Europe. She was a tepid golfer, an avid bridge player, and a competent gardener. Many people came to see her heather garden at her Mere Point home. This will be her final resting place among the blooming heathers.
Her community and family were very important to her. She would like people to celebrate her life instead of mourn.
If you would like to celebrate her life with us, please mark your calendar for June 27, 2015. We plan to have a joyous memory-filled occasion at 808 Mere Point, Brunswick, from 2 to 5 p.m.
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