Maxine O. Swanger

Maxine O. (Hindman) Swanger, 86, of Newton died Monday, Oct. 28, 2013, at her home in Park Centre in Newton.

A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church, 220 N. Second Ave. E. in Newton. The family will greet friends from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the Wallace Family Funeral Home in Newton.

Memorials to Progress Industries may be left at the funeral home or at the church on the morning of the service. Memorials may also be mailed to the funeral home; add, Attn: Swanger Family on the envelope.

Maxine O. (Hindman) Swanger, the daughter of Nelson D. and Esther (Hanna) Hindman was born on Nov. 8, 1926, in Brush, Colo. She spent her early years in Colorado, until her family moved to their home in Colfax. Maxine was a graduate of Colfax High School in 1944. In school she participated in sports, particularly girls basketball, and was a member of the first Colfax team in history to play in the Girls State Basketball Tournament.

Maxine worked in the office of the Maytag Company for several years before she met and married Sterling O. Swanger on July 2, 1950, in Newton After some time they were blessed with their son, Eric.

She continued her interest in sports, including tennis and golf. Thanks to persistence and as she would say, “A little luck” she won the Newton Country Club Ladies Championship in 1990. Maxine loved the outdoors, the change of seasons, especially spring when the grass shows its beautiful green, the trees ready to display new leaves, and the robins returning for another season.

Maxine was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Theta Chi Sorority, Circle K Kiwanis, Progress Industries Auxiliary, Terrace Hill Society, Skiff Medical Center Auxiliary, and a past member of the Newton Country Club.

The Swangers were major contributors to two Newton undertakings, Progress Industries Foundation (acquisition and improvement of totally handicap accessible residential homes for Progress Industries consumers) and the Newton Arboretum & Botanical Garden (a Bow Bridge, Stream and Limestone Escarpment located within the southeast section of the Garden.) Since Sterling’s death in 2007, Maxine has contributed to several projects at the First Presbyterian Church and for the 2011 Jasper County Freedom Flight.

Those left to honor Maxine’s memory are her son, Eric Swanger (Gloria Ramirez) of Chandler, Ariz.; brother, Jerry (Arleen) Hindman of Hubbard; and sister, Peggy (Dale) Gardner of Newton; and her several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Sterling in 2007; sister, Marjorie Hindman; and two brothers, Jack and Clair Hindman.