Wichita Eagle, Sunday, July 28, 1968
MRS. FRED B. SWAN
Services were pending Saturday for Mrs. Eva Barkley Swan, 86, of 336 N. Volutsia, Wichita resident 30 years who died Friday.
Born at Marietta, Ohio, she was the widow of Fred B. Swan, a mailman who died in 1963. She was a member of the Methodist Church.
There are no immediate survivors.
Gill Mortuary has charge.
Notes by Evelyn Anne Swan, granddaughter - both my brother Frederick Barkley Swan and I were survivors. To my knowledge my grandfather Fred was never a mailman. He worked with his father John C. Swan promoting the Swan Underreamer. The name of the company was the Bridgeport Machine Company. Grandpa Fred also owned the Swan Chemical Company with a couple of partners in Wichita. Whoever wrote the obituary obviously did not know my grandfather at all and my grandmother not very well. To my knowledge she was not an active member of any church. I can understand an obituary that misses information about a deceased spouse - but saying there are no immediate survivors? Unexcusable. Anyone who knew my grandmother at all knew very well she had two living grandchildren. After I moved away from Wichita I visited my grandmother ever year and always sent her a dozen pink roses (her favorite) on her birthday. Sadly, I wasn't there when she died. She fell, broke her hip, was hospitalized and relatives (other side of the house) called me as they knew Eva had no close kin except myself and my brother (a graduate student in Germany at the time). I flew to Wichita from California within a couple of days of her fall. We had a good visit at the hospital and I promised to take care of things that were worrying her - like paying her utility bill. The next day Grandma had a stroke and didn't speak again. I don't know how much she understood or didn't after then. I spent the next week visiting convalescent homes trying to find an appropriate place for her when she got out of the hospital. She would need help getting around. After about 10 days I had to leave and get back to my job. Grandma hadn't been responsive to me since the stroke - though one of her friends told me she thought she was able to communicate with her a little. I was not so blessed.
So... I flew home and a week or so later I received the call my grandma Eva had died. She never left the hospital. I flew back to Wichita to arrange the funeral (but someone else had obviously already done an obituary).
I'm the one who gave the incorrect information re Eva's birth year as 1882 to the officials and now it's on her death certificate and in Maple Grave Cemetery too. She was actually born in 1879. Grandma lied to me and others about her age for many years. No way she was born in 1882. You cannot be born in 1882 and be one year old in the 1880 census! But... I had this letter she had written me just a few months before her death mentioning her age. That's the information I used for her death certificate. I think she must have wanted folks to think she was older than grandpa! Sounds just like her to me.
MRS. FRED B. SWAN
Services were pending Saturday for Mrs. Eva Barkley Swan, 86, of 336 N. Volutsia, Wichita resident 30 years who died Friday.
Born at Marietta, Ohio, she was the widow of Fred B. Swan, a mailman who died in 1963. She was a member of the Methodist Church.
There are no immediate survivors.
Gill Mortuary has charge.
Notes by Evelyn Anne Swan, granddaughter - both my brother Frederick Barkley Swan and I were survivors. To my knowledge my grandfather Fred was never a mailman. He worked with his father John C. Swan promoting the Swan Underreamer. The name of the company was the Bridgeport Machine Company. Grandpa Fred also owned the Swan Chemical Company with a couple of partners in Wichita. Whoever wrote the obituary obviously did not know my grandfather at all and my grandmother not very well. To my knowledge she was not an active member of any church. I can understand an obituary that misses information about a deceased spouse - but saying there are no immediate survivors? Unexcusable. Anyone who knew my grandmother at all knew very well she had two living grandchildren. After I moved away from Wichita I visited my grandmother ever year and always sent her a dozen pink roses (her favorite) on her birthday. Sadly, I wasn't there when she died. She fell, broke her hip, was hospitalized and relatives (other side of the house) called me as they knew Eva had no close kin except myself and my brother (a graduate student in Germany at the time). I flew to Wichita from California within a couple of days of her fall. We had a good visit at the hospital and I promised to take care of things that were worrying her - like paying her utility bill. The next day Grandma had a stroke and didn't speak again. I don't know how much she understood or didn't after then. I spent the next week visiting convalescent homes trying to find an appropriate place for her when she got out of the hospital. She would need help getting around. After about 10 days I had to leave and get back to my job. Grandma hadn't been responsive to me since the stroke - though one of her friends told me she thought she was able to communicate with her a little. I was not so blessed.
So... I flew home and a week or so later I received the call my grandma Eva had died. She never left the hospital. I flew back to Wichita to arrange the funeral (but someone else had obviously already done an obituary).
I'm the one who gave the incorrect information re Eva's birth year as 1882 to the officials and now it's on her death certificate and in Maple Grave Cemetery too. She was actually born in 1879. Grandma lied to me and others about her age for many years. No way she was born in 1882. You cannot be born in 1882 and be one year old in the 1880 census! But... I had this letter she had written me just a few months before her death mentioning her age. That's the information I used for her death certificate. I think she must have wanted folks to think she was older than grandpa! Sounds just like her to me.
Wichita Eagle, Sunday, July 28, 1968
MRS. FRED B. SWAN
Services were pending Saturday for Mrs. Eva Barkley Swan, 86, of 336 N. Volutsia, Wichita resident 30 years who died Friday.
Born at Marietta, Ohio, she was the widow of Fred B. Swan, a mailman who died in 1963. She was a member of the Methodist Church.
There are no immediate survivors.
Gill Mortuary has charge.
Notes by Evelyn Anne Swan, granddaughter - both my brother Frederick Barkley Swan and I were survivors. To my knowledge my grandfather Fred was never a mailman. He worked with his father John C. Swan promoting the Swan Underreamer. The name of the company was the Bridgeport Machine Company. Grandpa Fred also owned the Swan Chemical Company with a couple of partners in Wichita. Whoever wrote the obituary obviously did not know my grandfather at all and my grandmother not very well. To my knowledge she was not an active member of any church. I can understand an obituary that misses information about a deceased spouse - but saying there are no immediate survivors? Unexcusable. Anyone who knew my grandmother at all knew very well she had two living grandchildren. After I moved away from Wichita I visited my grandmother ever year and always sent her a dozen pink roses (her favorite) on her birthday. Sadly, I wasn't there when she died. She fell, broke her hip, was hospitalized and relatives (other side of the house) called me as they knew Eva had no close kin except myself and my brother (a graduate student in Germany at the time). I flew to Wichita from California within a couple of days of her fall. We had a good visit at the hospital and I promised to take care of things that were worrying her - like paying her utility bill. The next day Grandma had a stroke and didn't speak again. I don't know how much she understood or didn't after then. I spent the next week visiting convalescent homes trying to find an appropriate place for her when she got out of the hospital. She would need help getting around. After about 10 days I had to leave and get back to my job. Grandma hadn't been responsive to me since the stroke - though one of her friends told me she thought she was able to communicate with her a little. I was not so blessed.
So... I flew home and a week or so later I received the call my grandma Eva had died. She never left the hospital. I flew back to Wichita to arrange the funeral (but someone else had obviously already done an obituary).
I'm the one who gave the incorrect information re Eva's birth year as 1882 to the officials and now it's on her death certificate and in Maple Grave Cemetery too. She was actually born in 1879. Grandma lied to me and others about her age for many years. No way she was born in 1882. You cannot be born in 1882 and be one year old in the 1880 census! But... I had this letter she had written me just a few months before her death mentioning her age. That's the information I used for her death certificate. I think she must have wanted folks to think she was older than grandpa! Sounds just like her to me.
MRS. FRED B. SWAN
Services were pending Saturday for Mrs. Eva Barkley Swan, 86, of 336 N. Volutsia, Wichita resident 30 years who died Friday.
Born at Marietta, Ohio, she was the widow of Fred B. Swan, a mailman who died in 1963. She was a member of the Methodist Church.
There are no immediate survivors.
Gill Mortuary has charge.
Notes by Evelyn Anne Swan, granddaughter - both my brother Frederick Barkley Swan and I were survivors. To my knowledge my grandfather Fred was never a mailman. He worked with his father John C. Swan promoting the Swan Underreamer. The name of the company was the Bridgeport Machine Company. Grandpa Fred also owned the Swan Chemical Company with a couple of partners in Wichita. Whoever wrote the obituary obviously did not know my grandfather at all and my grandmother not very well. To my knowledge she was not an active member of any church. I can understand an obituary that misses information about a deceased spouse - but saying there are no immediate survivors? Unexcusable. Anyone who knew my grandmother at all knew very well she had two living grandchildren. After I moved away from Wichita I visited my grandmother ever year and always sent her a dozen pink roses (her favorite) on her birthday. Sadly, I wasn't there when she died. She fell, broke her hip, was hospitalized and relatives (other side of the house) called me as they knew Eva had no close kin except myself and my brother (a graduate student in Germany at the time). I flew to Wichita from California within a couple of days of her fall. We had a good visit at the hospital and I promised to take care of things that were worrying her - like paying her utility bill. The next day Grandma had a stroke and didn't speak again. I don't know how much she understood or didn't after then. I spent the next week visiting convalescent homes trying to find an appropriate place for her when she got out of the hospital. She would need help getting around. After about 10 days I had to leave and get back to my job. Grandma hadn't been responsive to me since the stroke - though one of her friends told me she thought she was able to communicate with her a little. I was not so blessed.
So... I flew home and a week or so later I received the call my grandma Eva had died. She never left the hospital. I flew back to Wichita to arrange the funeral (but someone else had obviously already done an obituary).
I'm the one who gave the incorrect information re Eva's birth year as 1882 to the officials and now it's on her death certificate and in Maple Grave Cemetery too. She was actually born in 1879. Grandma lied to me and others about her age for many years. No way she was born in 1882. You cannot be born in 1882 and be one year old in the 1880 census! But... I had this letter she had written me just a few months before her death mentioning her age. That's the information I used for her death certificate. I think she must have wanted folks to think she was older than grandpa! Sounds just like her to me.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
