Reuben T Swanson

Memorial Graveside Services for Reverend Dr. Reuben T. Swanson will be held at the Immanuel Cemetery north of Bertrand, Nebraska on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. with Reverend Gary Panko, officiating. A prayer service and luncheon will follow the graveside service.

Reverend Dr. Reuben T. Swanson was born September 22, 1922 in Bertrand, Nebraska to Theodore C. and Minnie Cornelia (Malm) Swanson and passed away on Friday, October 3, 2008 at his home in Fort Collins, Colorado at the age of 86 years and 11 days.

Following high school, he attended Luther Junior College, Doane College, and Columbia University. Reuben's education was interrupted by service in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 in the Pacific theater. After military service, Reuben received his BA from Augustana College and his theological degree from Augustana Lutheran Seminary, both located in Rock Island, Ill. He married Darlene Marie Carlson on Aug. 8, 1948, and was ordained as a minister of the gospel on June 17, 1951.

Reuben served as a pastor at St. Andrews Lutheran Church, West Hempstead, N.Y., from 1951 to 1955. From 1955 to 1964 he was pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Neb. In 1964, he was elected to serve as President of the Nebraska Synod, Lutheran Church in America. He continued in that position until 1978, when he was elected as the Secretary of the Lutheran Church in America, headquartered in New York, N.Y. Reuben retired from full-time service in 1987, when the Lutheran Church in America joined with the American Lutheran Church and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Following retirement, he continued to be active as a consultant for Aid Association for Lutherans and Bethphage Mission Resource Division. From 1993 until 2000, he served as a regional representative for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Board of Pensions.

Reuben was active in several community organizations, served on numerous boards and committees, and was involved in development campaigns for charitable organizations. During his lifetime, he received many honors, citations and awards. He showed special interest in higher education, ministries that reached out beyond churches, and services to those burdened with physical or social disadvantages. Together with his wife, Darlene, he was an active and generous philanthropist.

Reuben was a kind man, devoted husband, a loving father, and a loyal friend. He was an idealist who was not utopian, and a realist who was not cynical. He was decisive, courageous, and could be forceful, but also showed tolerance of others and flexibility in his thinking. He kept foremost in his mind the needs of the organizations and people he sought to serve. He loved to travel, enjoyed opera, the theater, the symphony, and good food, and was ready to try new adventures. His was a life well-lived.

Reuben is survived by two children, Conrad T. Swanson and wife Cheryl of Wellington, and Joyce Marie Jobson and husband Peter of Fort Collins; four grandchildren, Nathan T. and Anna Marie Swanson, and Daniel P. and Emma Marie Jobson; and two sisters, Ruth Arden and Florence Skallberg. He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Dorothy Lewis, and his wife, Darlene Marie Swanson.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, the Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministry, Mosaic, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska or Augustana College in Rock Island, IL.

Expressions of caring and kindness can be sent to the family at www.nelsonbauerfh.com

The Nelson-Bauer Funeral Home in Holdrege, Nebraska is in charge of the arrangements.