Susan was born and grew up in Salina KS, adopted daughter of Kenneth L. and Edna V. (Eberhardt) Hershey. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Salina and graduated from Salina HS in 1960. In 1964, she received her B.E. from Washburn University of Topeka, KS, graduating with departmental honors following a student exchange at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Susan moved to Colorado in 1965 and began teaching in Leadville, CO. She married John H. Swenson, jr., in 1967 and they moved to Lafayette. Susan was an elementary teacher for 35 years, 28 of those being in the Boulder Valley School District. She obtained her M.F.A. in Art Education in 1978 from the University of Colorado, Boulder campus, and became an art specialist. In 1990, Susan was recognized as Colorado's Elementary Art Teacher of the Year. She retired in 1998 from the BVSD. Susan and John moved to Hawaii where Susan continued her feather work which she had spent the previous fifteen summers studying in Honolulu at the Bishop Museum and the University of Hawaii. Susan was one of only a dozen people in the last century to have completed a hand tied feather cape which is still on display in Honolulu. She was given the Hawaiian name of "Pulama" or one who cares. This was a high honor. Susan spent her last years as a patient in a care center for Early Onset of Alzheimer back in Colorado. After a fall and a broken pelvis and a short time in HospiceCare she passed away.
Survivors: Husband, John H. Swenson, jr.; Sons, Michael E. Swenson, and James W. Swenson; Sister, Martha Rhea and best friend, Vandy Vandervort.
Survivors: Husband, John H. Swenson, jr.; Sons, Michael E. Swenson, and James W. Swenson; Sister, Martha Rhea and best friend, Vandy Vandervort.
Susan was born and grew up in Salina KS, adopted daughter of Kenneth L. and Edna V. (Eberhardt) Hershey. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Salina and graduated from Salina HS in 1960. In 1964, she received her B.E. from Washburn University of Topeka, KS, graduating with departmental honors following a student exchange at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Susan moved to Colorado in 1965 and began teaching in Leadville, CO. She married John H. Swenson, jr., in 1967 and they moved to Lafayette. Susan was an elementary teacher for 35 years, 28 of those being in the Boulder Valley School District. She obtained her M.F.A. in Art Education in 1978 from the University of Colorado, Boulder campus, and became an art specialist. In 1990, Susan was recognized as Colorado's Elementary Art Teacher of the Year. She retired in 1998 from the BVSD. Susan and John moved to Hawaii where Susan continued her feather work which she had spent the previous fifteen summers studying in Honolulu at the Bishop Museum and the University of Hawaii. Susan was one of only a dozen people in the last century to have completed a hand tied feather cape which is still on display in Honolulu. She was given the Hawaiian name of "Pulama" or one who cares. This was a high honor. Susan spent her last years as a patient in a care center for Early Onset of Alzheimer back in Colorado. After a fall and a broken pelvis and a short time in HospiceCare she passed away.
Survivors: Husband, John H. Swenson, jr.; Sons, Michael E. Swenson, and James W. Swenson; Sister, Martha Rhea and best friend, Vandy Vandervort.
Survivors: Husband, John H. Swenson, jr.; Sons, Michael E. Swenson, and James W. Swenson; Sister, Martha Rhea and best friend, Vandy Vandervort.
Gravesite Details
N39º05.314" W106º18.675'
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