Lillian Swanson

Lillian Rohland Swanson, 85 years of age, of Concord, NC, passed away Saturday, January 13, 2018 at Hospice & Palliative Care of Cabarrus County, NC.

Lillian was born to the late Richard Rohland and Mildred Youngberg Rohland on July 15, 1932 in Chicago.  She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Arthur Swanson of Detroit, and her brother Richard Rohland of La Plata, MD. Survivors include her brother and sister, Robert Rohland and Arlene Rohland Morrow, and Lillian's 4 children, Diane, Daniel, Steven, and Robert Swanson, and their spouses, children and grandchildren.

Educator, wife, and mother, Lillian was also a good cook, singer, square dancer, and friend.  She sparkled wherever she went.  She was beautiful, gracious, loving, selfless, dutiful, and like so many of her generation, value-conscious.  Her brother remembers on family trips west that Lillian had the duty of checking out restaurants and hotels for the family and determining whether the comfort/cleanliness were worth the price.  The family visited the places Lillian approved.

After Chicago, Lillian moved with her family to Wilcox, Nebraska, where she lived until she was 12, near her grandparents Elim and Tillie Youngberg.  Her father, a minister at the Evangelical Free Church in Wilcox, transferred to Ludington, MI, in 1944, and in 1948 they moved to Detroit where he founded and directed Protestant Youth Organization, now Christian Family Services.  Lillian completed high school at Detroit's Mackenzie High School and attended the Evangelical Covenant Church in Detroit, where she also met the love of her life, Arthur Swanson.  Lillian attended Wayne State University and worked on the S.S. South American cruise ship in summers, earning enough to pay for college.  She completed a bachelor's degree, received a teaching certificate and began teaching school.  She also started a master's degree in special education where she learned American Sign Language.  She married Arthur in 1954 and their children began to arrive a year later.

Over the following decades she was the source of family unity, family faith and family music.  She was always active in church, teaching Sunday school, singing in choir, and encouraging us—sometimes requiring us — to do the same.   She had a lovely alto voice which she shared both in choirs and smaller select ensembles, starting as a high schooler in the “PYO Trio” and later in "The Fifth Season” at Ward Church in Michigan and “The Bocatones” in Florida.

Lillian was also an adventurer, and she and Art sailed the Great Lakes and the Inter-Coastal Waterway to Florida in the 80s and 90s, where they made a new home.  But no matter how much they travelled, Lillian was still focused on family.  She remained active and outward in her approach to life until recently when she began to slow down and struggle with mobility.  But even in her final days, she managed a kind and gentle smile for every person entering the room.  Her gifts to others were many, her wants were few.

A graveside service will be held at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, FL, in the Spring of 2018, where she will be buried alongside her husband of over 60 years.