Corinne Johnson Swaney

Corinne Johnson Swaney: Corinne passed away peacefully on Thursday, October 21, 2010 in San Antonio, Texas. She was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa on September 21, 1924. She was the daughter of former long-time Oskaloosa mayor Carl E. Johnson and Madeline Cook Johnson. She attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in English and Spanish. She also graduated Drake University with a Master's in English Literature. Corinne was married on May 16, 1947 to Edwin Stockton Swaney, whom she met at Cornell on a blind date. They lived in Oskaloosa until 1980, where they owned R.F. and W.B. Fitch Company. Their son John was born in Oskaloosa in 1949 and daughter Cynthia in 1953. After retirement, she and her husband moved to Harlingen,Texas where they lived from 1980-2008 at the Harlingen Country Club. During this time, she published a book of genealogy, A Cooke Book, tracing her family's ancestry to the Mayflower. The research included several summer trips to Great Britain during her Master's work. It is considered a significant reference on the Cooke family and its Pilgrim descendents. She later followed her family line back to the Magna Carta. She and her husband also published a book, Marching in Cadence, tracing the entire history of the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen. It was a labor of love, as her husband was a Navy veteran of Iwo Jima and she and Ed were volunteers at the MMA museum, where the original copy of the Iwo Jima Memorial is located. She also taught as a volunteer at the Literacy Center in Harlingen. They moved to the Patriot Heights retirement community in San Antonio, Texas two years ago to be close to their children. In addition to caring for her husband, she also taught a volunteer Spanish class. She was stricken by polio in 1952, and was confined to an iron lung in Iowa City. Her husband learned physical therapy and single-handedly nursed her back to health; he then helped numerous other polio patients at the Mahaska County Hospital. Mrs. Swaney was a Spanish teacher at the Oskaloosa Junior and Senior High Schools for 22 years and served as President of the Oskaloosa Education Association. Being adventurous, she took three groups of students to Spain, including the first group allowed in Spain since the Spanish Civil War. She also took several groups on tours of Mexico. Her daughter Cynthia and grandson Jonathan both followed in her footsteps, learning Spanish and studying in Spain. Her books and her constant desire for knowledge were with her always. The violin was her other true passion. She studied the violin under the late Carl Woodford and after retirement gave numerous solos and duets, Christmas programs and also performed with the Valley Symphony in Texas. She was a member of the Mayflower Society, the Magna Carta Society, Colonial Dames, Daughters of the American Revolution, and PEO. She was a long-time member of St. Paul's Congregational United Church of Christ. She is survived by her husband, Edwin Stockton Swaney; her son, John Edwin Swaney; her daughter, Cynthia Swaney Lane and husband Brent Lane, all of San Antonio, Texas; and two grandchildren, Jonathan Logan Lane and Megan Mary Swaney. Corinne was preceded in death by her parents and a granddaughter, Jessica Ann Swaney. PDF Printable Version

Corinne Johnson Swaney

September 21, 1924 - October 21, 2010