Gary Swaney

Gary Swaney, age 76 of Sioux City, passed away on Saturday, January 23, 2016, at his home. Funeral services will be at 11:00 AM on Friday, January 29, 2016, at Redeemer Lutheran Church. Burial will be in Graceland Park Cemetery. Visitation is from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Thursday, January 28, 2016, at Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel, where Gary's family will be present from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Online condolences may be posted at www.meyerbroschapels.com.

Gary was born October 29, 1939, on a farm near Pickering, Mo., the son of Albert M. and Jean (Swinford) Swaney. He spent his childhood in the rural community of Xenia (once a town before the coming of the railroad), northeast of Pickering, receiving his elementary education at the one-room, Xenia country school. He graduated from Pickering High School in 1957 and enrolled at Northwest Missouri State in the fall. He worked his way through college in a variety of occupations including tire repairman, concrete construction worker, sign painter, carpenter, and laundromat manager, and also helped on the family farm.

On December 22, 1959, Gary married Barbara Anderson in Maryville. They lived there until the spring of 1961, when he received his bachelor’s degree in secondary education, certified to teach in the areas of English and business. With their newborn son, Kevin, they moved to Red Oak, Iowa, where Gary had been hired to teach English at the high school in the fall. He worked there as a classroom teacher through the spring of 1966, while working on a master’s degree from the University of Missouri. Receiving his master’s degree and administrative certification in the summer of 1966, he spent the next eight years as Assistant Principal and Director of Athletics at Red Oak.

At the end of the 1974 academic year Gary went to Nebraska to become the first Executive Director of Beaver Lake Association, the organization of property owners established for the operation of a new lake resort community.

In late 1975, he accepted a position as a supervisor in the Adult and Continuing Education Division of Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, where he would spend the next 23 years as an administrator, retiring in 1998 as Director of Continuing Education.

Through the years Gary was a member of various professional organizations, including National Council of Teachers of English, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Phi Delta Kappa (50+ years), Iowa Association for Lifelong Learning, Missouri Valley Adult Education Association, and others. In Red Oak, he belonged to the Rotary Club and was President-elect at the time he moved. He was a member of the Noon Sertoma Club of Sioux City, serving as President in 1999-2000, and being recognized as Sertoman of the Year in 2002-2003. He took special interest in the development of Sertoma Park, writing a number of successful grant applications for its funding.

Survivors include his two sons, Kevin (Teresa) Swaney of Sioux City, and Garth (Beth) Swaney of Frankfort, Illinois; four grandchildren, Kelsey Swaney of Omaha, Nebraska; Mindy (Derek) Pearson of Crown Point, Indiana; Matthew Swaney and Samantha Swaney of Frankfort, Illinois; sisters-in-law Marilyn Atchison of Holt’s Summit, Missouri; Jacqueline Anderson of Lee’s Summit, Missouri; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife Barbara on April 15, 2013; his parents; his brother Charles Edward (Ed) Swaney; sisters-in-law Margaret Swaney and Mary Etta Anderson; brothers-in law Robert Anderson, James Anderson, and George Atchison.

Memorials may be directed to the American Cancer Society or American Heart Association.