Delbert Swanson, Sr.

Delbert Swanson Sr., 93, of Marietta GA died December 23, 2008. He was born March 10, 1915 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, when the number one hit song in the U.S. was "Where The River Shannon Flows" by Harry MacDonough. His family moved to Hancock, MN where he grew up in on the prairie during the Great Depression and, according to him, walked to school every day through 10 miles of snow, uphill each way. He married Dagmar ( Dee Mattson and enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in World War II for which he had to have special permission since at that time he was still a Canadian citizen. Just before his company was to ship out, Dee went into labor with their first child but tragically both she and their infant son Kenneth died during childbirth. After his discharge from the Army, Delbert moved to Chattanooga, TN, where he wooed and then wed Gladys Hicks in 1947. They had two daughters and a son, Beverly Jeanne, Valerie, and Delbert Jr. Delbert Sr. was a home builder and Gladys a nurse, and when they saw a Nursing Home For Sale ad in the Southern Tidings felt that God had called them to buy it, so they moved to Brooksville, FL where they owned and operated Swanson Nursing Home (the motto: Senior Citizens Sanctum for many years. Delbert, who could build or repair anything, made many improvements and additions to the nursing home and Gladys served as the administrator. They were both extremely active in the Brooksville Seventh-day Adventist church and Delbert managed the construction of the church school, Fleagle Elementary. In addition to being gifted in anything related to creating things, Delbert was also kind, an extremely funny, charming and inventive raconteur, and never met a stranger. He loved kids and took great delight in making young grade-school age boys giggle and guffaw by asking them if they had started shaving or were married yet. Any time the family drove by someone fishing he would stop the car to get out and ask how the fish were biting. In later years, telephone calls to his adult children always opened with wanting to know what the temperature was there, and usually asked if they going to church and paying tithe and ending with a prayer and advice to remember your Maker After allowing Delbert Sr. to make this world a better place for 93 years, his Maker has called him Home.