Helen L. Swanson

Helen L. Swanson, 94, of Rock Island, IL, died Sunday, April 9, 2017, at Silver Cross Health and Rehab, Rock Island, IL, after a long generous life of giving selflessly to her family and friends.

A celebration of her life with family and friends will be held at 11 a.m. with a visitation one hour prior to the service on Thursday, April 13, 2017, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 4501 7th Avenue, Rock Island.  Burial will be at National Cemetery at the Rock Island Arsenal.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to an organization of your choice.  Esterdahl Mortuary & Crematory, Ltd., Moline, is assisting the family with arrangements.

Helen Lucille Kittilsen was born on September 18, 1922, in Moline, IL, the daughter of John Stewart and Mildred Gwenola Connell Kittilsen, and lived in Rock Island all her life.  She was named after her father’s youngest sister, Helen Kittilsen Vander Vennet and her mother’s younger sister, Frances Lucille Connell Kittilsen.  Helen Swanson was a determined woman and lived longer than her parents, grand and great grandparents, sister, uncles, and half her aunts and cousins.

She grew up in Rock Island and, with her parents and twin sister, Dorothy, belonged to the Baptist Church where she sang in the choir, and in the 1930s visited Niagara Falls.  Living through the Great Depression, she never forgot the hardships.  Helen attended nearby Audubon Elementary School, Washington Jr. High and graduated in the Rock Island High School Class of 1940.

Her father, “Jack” Kittilsen, RIHS football standout 1911 to 1914, toured France with the AEF during WWI as a US Army Lieutenant.  Her paternal grandfather, Col. Edward Kittilsen, served in the Spanish-American War, was Sheriff of RI County and later Chief of Police in Moline, IL.  Helen’s great grandparents, Andrew Kittilsen and Frederika Johnson, Norwegian and Swedish immigrants, were among the original Old Settlers of RI County.

In the 1940s she was a clerk, stenographer and typist at several local companies, RIA during WWII and Bituminous Casualty Corp.  Helen Kittilsen married her high school classmate, Leonard Swanson, August 15, 1947, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Rock Island, after Leonard returned from serving his Pacific tour in 1944 as a Staff Sergeant.  Len insisted Helen be able to bait her own hook and land fish in a net, hence their wedding trip to a fishing resort in northern WI followed by raising and managing 3 young children, and 50 plus years of family fishing vacations including tent camping, boating, and weekend house boating on the Mississippi from 1965 forward, and continuing fishing with Leonard after retirement for most of their 61 years of marriage including teaching fishing and boating to her grandchildren.  Len often remarked that Helen’s hand lotion was the reason she always out-fished him.

For Helen, life was about serving others.  Helen was a devoted and caring mother to her three children, preparing special holiday dinners, hosting family gatherings, teaching her three sons how to make Christmas cookies.  Helen was known for her chocolate chip cookies and apple pie, although not revealing all her secrets of her delicious pie crust.  She enjoyed cooking homemade dinners, including fried fish, but most of all enjoyed sharing her time and talents with her children, grandchildren, family and friends rather than for herself.

She enjoyed craft work like sewing, embroidery, crocheting, needlecraft, jigsaw and crossword puzzles, and favorite programs, Wheel of Fortune and Father Matteo.

Helen was a devoted grandmother to her five grandchildren and a faithful caregiver for her husband, Leonard, before his death December 2, 2008.

She then took annual trips to visit her son, David, and his family in WA, including a memorable vacation to Hawaii with them in 2010.  She was able to attend three of her grandchildren’s weddings, some college graduations, and continued to attend church into her 90s.

Helen is survived by two sons and their spouses, Don and Sandy and David and Anne; five grandchildren and their spouses, Matt and Lynn Swanson, Heather and Nick Pazoles, Hannah Bennett-Swanson and special friend, Kyle Gloor, Brandon Swanson, and Nicole and Chad Payton; 1 great grandson, Skylar John Payton; 6 nieces; 2 nephews; 3 cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Leonard; youngest son, John Swanson in 1998; twin sister, Dorothy Wildman; niece, Janet; 3 of her 6 cousins; all of her aunts and uncles.

We would like to thank all her nurses and CNAs at Silver Cross for their care during her final days.

Memories may be shared online by visiting esterdahl.com.