Marjorie Hindert Swenson

Marjorie (Hindert) Swenson Marjorie Ann Hindert was born Oct 23, 1926 in the small farm town of Streator, Illinois. Her father and mother, Louis and Theresa Hindert, raised Marjorie and her older sister Doris in Minonk, Illinois, and later settled in Joliet, a blue-collar town south of Chicago. Marjorie’s experiences growing up in small, close-knit communities in the Midwest shaped her into an adult who loved most people she met and was never afraid to talk to someone she didn’t know. If you ever ran into Marjorie in the neighborhood or at the store, she would probably stop and talk to you, maybe for quite a while, sometimes even if she didn’t know you. She had a big smile that she shared freely and often. She would light up a room, and delighted in talking with anyone regardless of their status, appearance or social graces. Her mother’s maiden name was Theresa Schmidt. Louis went door-to-door selling shoes during the Great Depression, when Marjorie was a little girl. Theresa and Louis were both born in the US to parents who moved to this country from Germany. They were devout Catholics who often attended daily mass. There was practically a Catholic church every few blocks in the towns when she grew up, and Marjorie and her sister attended Catholic schools. As a young girl during the Depression, there were always homeless men wandering through Minonk searching for work. They would stop by her parents’ house, which was right next to the railroad tracks. Men would arrive in town there after jumping a train. Word got around among them that you could go to her house and sometimes find food. Her mother would give home-baked goods and other food to hungry men who knocked on their back door. Marjorie helped hand out food to the men. Marjorie attended the College of St. Francis, a Catholic women’s college in Joliet. She graduated with a degree in chemistry and was voted Miss St. Francis by her peers. In those days, women with chemistry degrees didn’t become chemists, she said. They worked as librarians in the chemical libraries used by male chemists and researchers, so that’s what Marjorie did. After college, she enrolled in post-graduate studies and worked in the chemical library at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. She met Ralph Swenson at a Halloween party there organized by the Catholic student group at the university and they began dating. He was working as a dentist stationed at a nearby US Air Force base. They eventually became engaged. Ralph was accepted into an oral surgery post-graduate program at Georgetown University, so they moved to Washington D.C. He lived in a dorm there while she rented a room nearby and found a job as a chemical librarian at the American Chemical Society. Marjorie married Ralph on July 13, 1957, in her hometown of Joliet. They began their married life together in Washington D.C. After two years in the nation’s capital, Ralph finished his oral surgery training. The couple moved to Seattle, where Ralph grew up. Marjorie would live the rest of her life in the Seattle area, which grew and changed dramatically in her many years there. She had her first child in Seattle in August 1958, when son John was born. Three more children followed in the next seven years: Ann, Alex and Paul. Marjorie fully enjoyed being a mother and once said, “I enjoyed it so much I wish I could have had 10 children.” The family settled in North Seattle, where Ralph started an oral surgery practice at Northgate. Marjorie and Ralph would live in the same house near the Innis Arden neighborhood of Shoreline for 35 years, raising their family there. They were active members of St. Luke Catholic Church the entire time. The family often spent Christmas and other holidays with the family of Ralph’s older brother Bob Swenson, who lived nearby with his wife Terry and their five children, who were also active members of St. Luke parish. Marjorie attended hundreds of her children’s cross-country and track meets, ball games, concerts, and other school-related events to watch her four children perform and compete. She was a devoted fan and made many friends with other parents. She kept active and loved to go on morning walks around Green Lake. After her children were grown, Marjorie and Ralph traveled more, visiting China, Russia and Europe together. In her later years, she often talked about moving into the city and living near Green Lake, but she and Ralph stayed in the north end of Seattle, living in the familiar part of the Puget Sound area they called home. They spent their final years together in a beautiful condo in Edmonds with a sweeping view of the mountains and Puget Sound. She said she never got tired of looking at the view, the ferry boats passing by, and the birds flying outside her window. She often said the gray skies and rain of Seattle never bothered her. Marjorie took many trips to Illinois during her years raising a family in Seattle, often taking one or more of her children along while Ralph stayed home to keep his oral surgery practice running. She cherished her visits with family and friends in Illinois, often visiting her sister Doris on her farm in Plainfield, Illinois, and staying with her parents in Joliet. Marjorie had several nieces and nephews she would look forward to seeing there: Barbara, Lou, and Mike. When Marjorie’s father died of a heart attack in 1979, her mother was left living alone in Joliet. When Theresa’s health began to fail, Marjorie moved her mother to Seattle to help care for her. Marjorie’s faith in God shaped her entire life and who she was – a woman who cared deeply about all her family and friends and was often racing off to daily mass early in the morning. She frequently mentioned God in conversations and once said, “I believe there’s an afterlife, don’t you?” Marjorie remained active and healthy until her mid-80s, when she began to develop health problems related to dementia. As the disease worsened, Marjorie spent most of her final year at Nica Adult Family Home in Richmond Beach, where was lovingly cared for by Rose, Joel and other staff at the home until her death at age 91. Marjorie is survived by her husband of 60 years, Ralph, sons John, Paul, and Alex, daughter Ann, nephew Lou Budler, and grandchildren Rody, Jos, Kelsey, Page, Carl, Kyle, and Kelley. She is preceded in death by her parents, her sister Doris, niece Barbara Budler, and nephew Michael Budler. A funeral mass will be held Friday, April 27 at 2:30 pm at St Luke Catholic Church in Shoreline, with a reception and celebration of her life to follow in the church auditorium.