ROCHESTER — A memorial service for Marcia Swanson will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Rochester, with Rev. Steve Ronningen officiating. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery.
Mrs. Swanson, 66, died Wednesday (Nov. 19, 2008) at Seasons Hospice.
She was born Aug. 27, 1942, and adopted with a twin brother, Mark Emmett, by Carroll and Florence Anderson. She lived by Lake Minnetonka until moving to the Kenwood area of Minneapolis. She graduated from West High School in 1960. After attending the University of Minnesota for two years, she married Jack Wittren and they had three children. They divorced in 1983. She later married Phillip Swanson in 1985 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. In 1991 she and her brother found their birth mother, Hattie Pulrang, and were grateful for the new relationship and memories they gained.
She worked in home health care for Olmsted County and then in the Rochester Methodist Hospital Admissions Department. In 2001, she was president of the Methodist Hospital Auxiliary. She was also president of the Winona Council of Catholic Women and coordinated the 3- and 4-year-old children’s Sunday School at St. Pius Catholic Church. She was a River Trails Girl Scout Leader at Washington School; was a member on the board of Young Life, an interdenominational youth group; and had been active in many areas with both St. Pius and Gloria Dei churches.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by three children, Douglas (Carol) Wittren of Portland, Ore., Dean (Susan) Wittren of Rochester and Amy (Mark) Reader of St. Bonifacius, Minn.; three grandchildren; her birth mother, Hattie Pulrang of Enumclaw, Wash.; a brother, Mark (Sandy) Anderson of Williamsburg, Va., and many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her adoptive parents.
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Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Ranfranz & Vine Funeral Homes in Rochester.
Memorials may be made to the Good Samaritan Fund, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, or Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
