Edwin Swaney
Edwin Swaney
September 21, 1920 – September 11, 2011
Served with Honor – United States Military Veteran
Visitation: will begin at 10 a.m., Thursday morning, September 15, 2011 at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel. The family will be present from 5 – 6:30 p.m. to greet visitors.
Funeral Service: 10 a.m., Friday morning, September 16, 2011 at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel with Rev. Dennis Morey of the First Presbyterian Church officiating.
Graveside Service: 10:30 a.m., Saturday morning, September 17, 2011 at Forest Cemetery. A procession will form at 10 a.m. at Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel and will progress to the cemetery at 10:15 a.m.
Interment: Crown Hill, Forest Cemetery.
Edwin Stockon Swaney, husband, father, community leader and patriot, passed away peacefully on September 11 at the age of 90 in San Antonio, Texas. He was born in Linton, North Dakota on September 21, 1920. He was the son of the Reverend Stockton M. and Ruth Logan Swaney. He is a graduate of Cornell College, Iowa. As part of the Greatest Generation, he was a true American hero.
Enlisting in the Navy in 1942, after his college graduation, he attended midshipmen’s school at Columbia University in New York City, graduating in June 1943 as an Ensign. He served as skipper of an LCT and was injured during maneuvers. He then served as anti-aircraft gunnery officer on the USS Nevada, a heroic battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor but surviving to re-enter the Pacific war. While on the Nevada Ed became a Naval Lieutenant, senior grade and served as ship’s athletic officer and a judge advocate. He participated in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and in the occupation of Japan. His battle injuries would cause him back problems all of his life. Mr. Swaney returned to civilian life and married Corinne Johnson of Oskaloosa, Iowa in 1947. He began work in Oskaloosa with the Fitch Company, an automotive supply business, becoming president and general manager in 1964. He ultimately bought out the other ownership and grew the company to three locations, which he sold to ITT upon retirement. They had two children, John Edwin Swaney and Cynthia Ann Swaney. His wife was diagnosed with polio in 1951, and he learned the physical therapies to nurse her back to health by sheer force of will. During his business life Mr. Swaney was active in the Iowa Republican Party and was president of the Oskaloosa Jaycees. He was also President of the Southern Iowa Fair Association, co-director of the Mahaska County Bloodmobile and President of the Mahaska County Historical Society. He was a member of St. Paul Congregational Church in Oskaloosa.
After retirement, he and his wife moved to Harlingen Texas where they lived from 1980-2009 at Harlingen Country Club. During this time, he wrote and published a book on the history and fate of the USS Nevada, entitled Operation Crossroads. He became a volunteer and a driving force at the Marine Military Academy Visitor’s Center & Museum, where the Iwo Jima Memorial is located. He and his wife were also asked by the MMA to undertake a book tracing the entire history of the Marine Military Academy. It was a labor of love, and they ultimately produced a huge volume that was published under the title Marching in Cadence. The theater at the MMA Museum is named after the two of them in tribute. They moved to Patriot Heights Retirement Community in San Antonio in 2009 to be close to their children.
Mr. Swaney was preceded in death by his beloved wife Corinne last October 21, and by his son, John Edwin Swaney, last December 1. He is survived by his sister, Virginia Fehrenbacher; his daughter, Cynthia Swaney Lane and husband Brent Lane; and two grandchildren, Jonathan Logan Lane and Megan Mary Swaney. He will be interred at the family plot in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
In lieu of flowers, please direct contributions to Marine Military Academy Visitor’s Center & Museum, 320 Iwo Jima Blvd, Harlingen, Texas 78550.
Source: GVL Funeral Chapel
