William Swanson's Obituary
William Eugene "Gene" Swanson 08/01/1939 - 10/26/2019
Gene, is survived by his wife Jerry and his three children, Michelle, Craig, and Lynnette (Mike) Caraway. Also by his three granddaughters, Amanda, Alyson, and Anna Caraway and grandson Griffin Swanson. His sister Joan (Stan) Smith and her children Mike and Sandy Burkhart as well as Don (Marcia) Hager and Diann (Tony) Pellessier and their son Brian plus many extended family members on both sides of his family as well as many, many friends. He loved all of them and he was loved by all of them.
He was born in and lived his whole life in Tacoma, Washington and thought it was the best place in the world to be. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1957 and still had friends from as far back as grade school. He began an apprenticeship right after high school at the age of 18 and became a journeyman glazier in the glass industry for his entire working career working first at Tacoma Glass and then at Larson Glass in Puyallup. He married in 1959 and was married for sixty years.
Over the years when he was not working he enjoyed participating in sports himself, attending sporting events, and coaching youth baseball and football teams. When his children arrived he took time off to enjoy them and then began coaching their team sports when they got old enough to play. When he reached retirement he began taking banjo lessons and then joined the Tacoma Banjo Club Band. He loved that the music lifted the spirits of all who listened and made people of all ages and abilities smile, sing and clap along. It made him smile too. He also was able to get back to his hobby of model railroading at this time and built an "old west" themed layout in his home that people from all over the world came to see during tours. He also was a volunteer at the Washington State History Museum and worked regularly building structures and trains for the layout display there. While he did this he earned his degree as a Master Model Railroader -- Number 412 in the world.
Gene will be missed by all who knew him and we will all remember him for his great big smile and that he was always whistling a happy tune.
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