Ernest S. Swenson

Aberdeen: The funeral service for Ernest S. Swenson, 92, of Aberdeen will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009, at the Scandinavia Lutheran Church in rural Bath, with Pastor Vicki Saudi-Worthington officiating.

Burial will follow at Scandinavia Lutheran Cemetery.

Ernest died Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009, at Manor Care Nursing Home.

Visitation will be 1-7 p.m. Tuesday, with family present from 5-7 p.m., at Spitzer-Miller Funeral Home, 1111 S. Main St.

Ernest Sylvester Swenson was born Jan. 24, 1917, to Severt and A. Karine (Hundstad) Swenson in Gem Township, Bath, S.D. He was baptized and confirmed at Scandinavia Church, where he remained an active member all his life, serving many years as a member of the church council. He attended grade school in the Hundstad School in Gem Township. Ernest graduated from Central High School in Aberdeen in 1935, and attended Northern State Teachers College for one year.

He was employed at the K.O. Lee Company in Aberdeen from 1939-46, and then went into farming with his father.

Ernest married Hazel Sandve at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Aberdeen on Oct. 12, 1958. He farmed and raised registered polled Hereford cattle until he retired in 1991. He was a director in the South Dakota Polled Hereford Association for several years.

Following retirement, he enjoyed collecting models of machinery he had used during his farming years.

Grateful for having shared Ernest's life are his wife, Hazel, of Aberdeen; brother, LaVerne of Aberdeen; sister, Gladys Hoefert of Seneca, S.D.; and many nieces and nephews.

He is preceded in death by his parents; sister, Irene; brother-in-law, Robert Hoefert; sister-in-law, Della Swenson; niece, Barbara Pins; nephews: Leland Stange and Rodney Torguson; and great-nephews: Jeffrey and Jared Bitzer.

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