DES MOINES, IA (January 31, 2014) — A memorial service for Margaret Linnea (Dahlstrom) Swanson, 102, widow of Covenant pastor Milton Swanson, was conducted Sunday at Valley View Village, where she had lived. She died January 23.

Swanson was born December 14, 1911, near Elgin, Illinois, the youngest of 10 children. While in her twenties, she served as the pianist for Lily Lake Covenant Church in Campton Hills, Illinois.

In 1937, she married Milton Swanson, whom she had met while he was a summer intern at Lily Lake. They served Evangelical Covenant churches in Kansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Iowa, and Minnesota.

She was preceded in death by her husband and her daughter, Fern Katter. Survivors include her son, Wayne Swanson, and son-in-law retired North Park University professor Cal Katter.

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