Emma Lou "Lou" Swanson

EMMA LOU SWANSON (beloved first daughter of Lester Ernest Sherman, 1904-1980, and Ernestine Susannah Sipe Sherman, 1910-1938,) peacefully passed away in the early hours of 27 September 2025. Known as "Lou", she graduated as Valedictorian of her High School class. After taking some college courses in Bowling Green, Ohio, she joined the United States Air Force. While serving her country she met Herbert Garren Swanson, and they were married 12 December 1954 in the Wayne Methodist Church in Wayne, Ohio. She left Air Force active duty in early 1955 (common practice for service women who married).

Lou had a life full of adventure. After marrying, she and Herb lived in Washington, DC, and she proudly worked at the Pentagon. In 1955, she gave birth to a daughter, Gloria Jean. In 1957, her husband was transferred to the Embassy in Bonn, Germany, as part of the Air Attache, and they lived there for 4 years. While stationed in Germany, Lou continued her Government Service and they still managed to travel around Europe with notable trips to The Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany; The Netherlands for the tulip festival; Paris, France; and Malmo, Sweden to visit her husband's family. Lou gave birth to her son, Lester Ernest in 1958. They returned to the United States in 1961 where they were stationed at McGuire Air Force Base and bought a house in Levittown, NJ, later known as Willingboro, NJ. They stayed there until 1964 when they were stationed with the Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. They lived in South Africa for 4 years, returning to the USA in 1968 when they retired from military life.

Lou was an accomplished seamstress and tailor. During Embassy assignments, she often made dresses and did alterations for the "Embassy wives". She was also an excellent bridge player and often taught the card game as well as being an enthusiastic participant.

They raised their family in Willingboro, New Jersey, and Lou began work at Burlington County Memorial Hospital as a secretary to the Food Service Director. She worked her way up and became the Food Service Director when her boss retired. She retired from the hospital in the early 1990's. During her tenure, she served as the President of the Middle Atlantic Association of Hospital Dietary Directors.

With her husband already retired, they sold their house in Willingboro and moved to North Carolina to be closer to their daughter. They shared a large farmhouse, and Lou renewed her love of horses. In her youth, she had been a rodeo queen. She got a quarter horse named Starr and rode with her husband and his horse Phantom. They loved the farm life but Lou also became very active in the community. She worked with the Raeford United Methodist Church to elevate their Bible Study dinners. Attendance soared and she reduced costs, increasing profits for the Church.

By 1995, Lou had 3 granddaughters: Leslie, Scarlett, and Starr; and one grandson, Andrew. Gloria and her military family were stationed in Germany and Lou and Herb made several trips to visit. While visiting they toured Europe and enjoyed family life. They also toured the US and made frequent visits to Maine, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and Arizona to see family and friends. They sold the farm and moved into town where Lou continued her community service and frequent trips. She and Herb also fell in love with cruising, and they took a cruise on the Mediterranean in 2005 to celebrate their 50 th wedding anniversary. Gloria's family was back in Germany for another military assignment, and they served as home base for their European adventures.

Early in 2006, Herb died from Pancreatic Cancer and Lou was thankful to be surrounded by loving friends. She visited Gloria in Italy for a few months and expanded her travels to include many Italian attractions and a visit to San Marino.

In 2008, Gloria and her family returned to the USA and bought a house in Virginia and Lou built a small addition to the house and moved in with them. She built a new friend group in Virginia and had the opportunity to play bridge often – which made her very happy. She had a stroke in 2015 from which she had no physical manifestations. She seemed to recover quickly without any problems. She lived in Virginia until 2019 when she moved to Florida to be near her granddaughter and enjoy the warmer weather and slower pace of life. A little over a year later Gloria moved to be closer to her.

Late in 2021, Lou took a terrible fall in her house and ended up in a rehab center with a new hip, and the family agreed she would require more accommodation and support. She completed her time at the rehab center and then moved into Brilliance Assisted Living, in Edgewater, Florida. The facility was about 7 miles from Gloria's house, so she became a very frequent visitor. Lester made periodic trips to see her which was the best medicine for her.

Lou formed a bridge group at Brilliance and took joy in giving all the residents and staff homemade Christmas Ornaments each year. Over the years she became very close to some of the staff members such as Irma, Barbara, Gayle, D, Debbie and Suzi who all went out of their way to enrich her life. Her birthday celebrations were over the top each year with at least 3 parties in her honor. She did love attention and socializing. Lester attended when his work schedule allowed. She had a few health scares which resulted in her receiving hospice services, but eventually she recovered, and hospice services were removed.

In early 2025, Brilliance Assisted Living became Diamond Assisted Living and thankfully many of the staff members remained. Lou became very attached to some of them. Lou had been asking to go on another cruise, since the last one she was on ended as the 2019 Pandemic hit Florida; Her cruise was in March 2020! All the special arrangements for Lou's comfort were made, and a cruise was booked for her in August of 2025. That was the first part of her surprise. The next surprise was when her son arrived the day before the sailing and told her that he would be on the cruise with his sister and Gayle (a favorite from Diamond), the caregiver who accompanied them. Lou had a great time! She went to the Aqua Show, the Ice Show, and ate 8 lobsters during the 3-night cruise. It was a cruise to remember!

Toward the end of August 2025, Lou was not doing very well and there was speculation that she might have had another stroke. She was put back on Hospice with Vitas and they took excellent care of her (especially Jody and Holly). Lester made an impromptu visit to see Lou barely a month after his previous visit. It was a good time of reconnecting and looking at the book of cruise memories from August. Lou's 92 nd birthday was the usual multi-party event spanning the week of 15 September 2025. She enjoyed the festivities and being surrounded by family and friends. Then her health took a turn for the worse. She was given stronger pain medication which kept her sleeping a lot. She was a woman of strong faith and peacefully left this world.

Lou is survived by her daughter Gloria (son-in-law John), son Lester (daughter-in-law Susan), grandchildren, Leslie (grandson-in-law Bryan), Andrew (granddaughter-in-law Samantha), Scarlett (soon-to-be grandson-in-law Rex) and Starr; 3 great grandchildren Garren, Lyssa and Kyrie; her brother William (sister-in-law Eugenia) Sherman; sister Lillian Schroeder. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews. She is predeceased by granddaughter Lisa Florence; husband Herb; sisters Edna Mae, Nancy and Mabel.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Diamond Assisted Living Facility in Edgewater Florida on 15 October 2025.