Donald Allen Swanson, Jr.

Donald A. "Hey" Swanson, Jr., Clark, died in the Avera Heart Hospital at Sioux Falls on September 14th after a long illness. A funeral mass will be celebrated at 11AM on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 in the St. Michael's Catholic Church at Clark with the Reverend John Short officiating. Burial with full military honors provided by the Smith-Cagley American Legion Post #60 and the South Dakota Army National Guard Honors Team will follow in the Rose Hill Cemetery at Clark. Music will be presented by Dianne Varilek and Bonnie Graves. The active casketbearers will be "The Boys from Wisconsin" - Don's hunters for many years, Jeff, Kelly and Mike Guerts, Dennis Stoltenow, Ron & Terry Bunkleman, Glen McVey and Kevin Lasee. The honorary casketbearers will be Richard, F. Allen, Jeff and Kim Wells, Lester Solberg, Jerry Thelen and Glenn Dix. Visitation will be held on Tuesday from 5-7PM at the Furness Funeral Home at Clark and after 10AM on Wednesday morning at the Church. He was born Donald Allen Swanson, Jr., the son of Donald and Frances (Thelen) Swanson, Sr. on November 18, 1937 at Clark, SD. He attended the Garfield Country School and then Clark High School. Don entered the United States Air Force in 1956 and served his country honorably until 1960. While in the Air Force he obtained his GED and after his discharge, he returned to Clark. On June 8, 1961 he was united in marriage to Cheryl Wells at Watertown. He worked for a period of time for Coca-Cola bottling in Watertown and then after moving to Clark, he worked at Kyle's Hardware. Don and Cheryl have lived west of Clark for several years where he also farmed. He was a member of St. Michael's Catholic Church at Clark. Some of his favorite pastimes included hunting geese, ducks and especially pheasants. To many he was referred to as "Hey" Swanson as that was a favorite word of his! He also owned a thoroughbred horse for one year going to races, horse shows and rodeos. Preceding him in death were his parents and a nephew, Steve Swanson. Survivors include his wife Cheryl, a son, Dale (Sherry) Swanson, twin-brother, Doug (Marilyn) Swanson all of Clark, sisters, Betty (Bill) Stiles of Charleston, SC and Sharel (Glenn) Dix of Aberdeen, a granddaughter, Jeannie Rainford and 2 great-grandsons, Daelyn and Peyton. He also leaves cousins, nieces and nephews. For further information please go to www.furnessfuneralhome.com