March 28, 2024

Beverly Swanson

Beverly Swanson, 77, of Newton died on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at the First United Methodist Church in Newton. The family will greet friends from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service and again after the service with a lunch on Saturday, at the church. Memorials in Beverly’s name may be left at the church or the Wallace Family Funeral Home.

Beverly, the daughter of Rev. Clifford and Hazelle (Engberg) Lindberg, was born on July 28, 1935, in Escanaba, Mich. Her father was a Methodist minister and the family lived in many places as Beverly was growing up. She graduated from Slayton High School in Slayton, MN.  Beverly attended college at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, where she met her future husband, Rev. Roger Swanson.  Roger and Beverly were united in marriage on Aug. 11, 1956, at Emmanuel Methodist in Minneapolis. They made their home in New Jersey for 35 years. While there, Beverly received her MA from Kean College in Newark, N.J. She taught middle school language arts and reading.

Beverly was very proud that she came from a long tradition of United Methodist clergy, as her father and grandfather were both Methodist ministers and she married a Methodist minister. Beverly was active in the Methodist church doing a lot of women’s work for the church, including going into inner city New York to assist with a women’s ministry. She was also accomplished at writing, directing, and performing chancel dramas at many churches in New Jersey and later in Tennessee. Beverly and Roger enjoyed traveling and did summer pastoral exchanges in England and Scotland. They also traveled to the World Methodist Conference in Africa and led many trips to the Holy Land. After 35 years in New Jersey, they moved to Tennessee and Florida before moving to Newton, Iowa in 2011.

Those left to honor Beverly’s memory are her husband, Rev. Roger Swanson of Newton; children, Rachel (Terry) Faidley of rural Colfax and Philip L. (Kimberly Edwards-Swanson) Swanson of Flemington, N.J.; her five grandchildren, Meredith and Megan McKay and Adam, Sarah, and Abigail Swanson; and sister, Elaine Merrick of Charlotte, NC. She was preceded in death by her parents.