Rudolph D. Swartz

1914 - 2008

BOULDER, Colo. – Rudolph David "R.D." Swartz, 93, died May 17.
Swartz was born Oct. 2, 1914, to James and Anna (Sousek) Swartz on a homestead near Burke, S.D. When he was less than one year old, the family moved to a farm near Colon and Malmo. He attended country school District 88 for eight years. He attended a three-year high school at Malmo and graduated from Schuyler High School in 1933.
He married Mildred Luree Darland on Aug. 6, 1938 in the St. Boniface Catholic Church, Sioux City, Iowa.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Nebraska State College at Wayne in 1940. He became a teacher, principal and superintendent in St. Helena, Fordyce and Wynot. He attended the University of Montana at Missoula, Mont. receiving the Master of Education in 1943. He served as principal of the elementary school and later principal of the High School in Cut Bank, Mont. He was Superintendent of Schools of Hale, Mo. He moved the family to Colorado in 1949 where he was employed as Superintendent of Schools of the Lewis/Palmer School District, Monument, Colo., later at Meeker, Louisville and Estes Park, Colo.
He was a visiting instructor at Western State College at Gunnsion, Colo. He received the Doctor of Education Degree in 1953 from the former Burton College at Manitou Springs, Colo. and the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo. He was Superintendent of Schools at Guernsey, Wyo. He then spent 20 years in the Boulder Valley RE2 School District and retired in 1980.
After retiring, he was an active volunteer for the local AARP Chapter and served as AARP Assistant State Director for four years, four years as District Director and over two years as the Health Advocacy Local Coordinator. He was a member of the American and Colorado School Administrators, the Rotary, and Lions Club, Boulder Valley Retired School Employees Association, AARP Flagstaff/Boulder 136, Rocky Mountain Climber's Club and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.
He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, Alvin, Stanley and Edwin Swartz; and two sisters, Bessie Simanek and Marie Sloup; and a son-in-law, Kenneth Lambert.
He is survived by his wife; four children, David and Janet Swartz, Joan Lambert, Mary Ann and Bruce Goldsmith and Rudolph James "R.J" and Nancy Swartz; sisters-in-law, Elinore Darland and Eleanor Swartz; 10 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren; numerous nephews and nieces.
Services were held May 22 with Father Kevin Augustyn officiating. Interment was at Green Mountain Cemetery in Boulder, Colo.