Gladys Swanson

Our beloved mother, Gladys Swanson, 85, of Clarkston, passed at home peacefully Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, with her family members by her side. She was born and raised in Kooskia in a family with humble means. Because of this, she appreciated everything that she had. As the oldest child, she developed a strong work ethic doing chores and caring for her younger siblings. It was there that she learned about perseverance, family values and probably developed stubbornness, which followed her throughout her life.
Later she married her first husband, Butch Neilson from Spokane, and they welcomed three children - Raymond, Lorraine and Marilyn. Tragically, he passed away in a car accident when their children were far too young. In 1962, she married Eddie Swanson from Troy and they added two more children, Gail and Colleen which made their family complete. They settled in Troy and later bought a farm out in the country. Many wonderful years were spent there raising their family and farming and ranching together. She treasured this lifestyle and was happiest when working with their cattle. She loved her cows and even had most of them named. It wasn't uncommon to see a calf in the kitchen being bottle fed. This lifestyle of course, came with some challenges. Our Dad always says that she was not only his left hand but his right hand as well, even though, a few choice cuss words could sometimes be heard on occasion. Our parents had a deep love for each other, Mom was definitely the "Lightning" and Dad was the "Thunder!" This combination sometimes made a stormy, yet passionate, couple.
Mom was a hard worker who almost never sat down. Her hands were never idle and to think of all the things her hands tended to over her lifetime: her hands tenderly held grandbabies, weeded gardens, snapped green beans, canned thousands of jars of produce, milked cows, gathered eggs, butchered chickens, wrapped beef, drove grain trucks, hung fresh laundry on the clothesline, picked gallons of huckleberries, fished many a stream, built campfires, rode horses and worked with cattle. On top of all that she cooked meals every day, many of them with everything homemade or from the farm including the bread, butter, milk, produce from her garden, and meat from our freezer.
They retired from farming in 2001 and bought a house in Clarkston. It was finally a chance to relax. Swimming in their pool, family barbecues and memorable camping trips to the Lochsa and the North Fork. We loved that we would play Scrabble games all day and have our mom sit with us and laugh at all of life's stories.
She taught us what the true meaning of love and family is: putting others before yourself, encouraging each other in good times and bad, serving your family through hard work and sacrifice and above all loving each other unconditionally.
But most of all, she was a woman who had a deep love for her husband, children, grandchildren and friends. She had a way of making everyone feel special. We will have to admit that she wasn't always perfect, (but pretty darn close) because her roots were from Kentucky, and sometimes she was just a little "opinionated!"
Our family would like to give a special thank you to her grandson, Chad Edwards, for his loving care for her as a nurse, through her failing health these last few years.
She is preceded in death by: first husband, Butch Neilson; mother and father: Hattie Peterson and Glen Potter; siblings: Alice Potter, Lana Reimer, Les Potter and Geneva Fullen; son-in-law: Jim (Colleen) Schmit; and son: Raymond (Chalene) Swanson.
She is survived by her devoted husband of 62 years: Eddie Swanson, of Clarkston; her loving children: Lorraine Cook, of Farmington, Wash., Marilyn Taylor (Roland), of Clarkston, Gail Edwards (Dave), of Clarkston and Colleen Schmit, of Weatherford, Texas; 13 grandchildren: Ranee Lawhon (Jay), Nick Swanson (Jenny), Joe Swanson (Andrea), Tanya Mitzimberg (TJ), BJ Koester, DeeAnn Stephens, Michael Stephens (Jennifer), Will Fowler, Amber Petersen (Jordan), Chad Edwards (Jordyn), Chelsey Grabe (Chris), Courtney Hasley (Joel) and Kyle Schmit (Maddie); 26 adored great-grandchildren; 10 precious great-great-grandchildren; and siblings: Gary (Freida) Potter, and Lamar Potter.
Please join us for a celebration of life at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30 at the Clarkston Event Center, 841 Sixth St., dinner will be served.