Glen E. Swanson, 74, of Waverly, died Friday, August 17, 2007 with his loving family at his side at his home in Waverly of complications from lung cancer.

He was born November 5, 1932 at Fairbank, Iowa, son of Ralph and Margaret (Woodard) Swanson. The family moved to Green Mountain, Iowa before settling in Waterloo where they resided on West Third Street.

Glen graduated from Waterloo West High School in 1950. He received a BA (Art) degree at Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) at Cedar Falls in 1954. He returned to the State College of Iowa (UNI) to earn an MA (Art) in 1963.

During the summers (1952) while in college, he proudly became the third generation railroader in his family, working as a freight brakeman on the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern interurban line. He also operated the old Waterloo Streetcar #381 for one week, while the regular motorman was on vacation. He later mused that his timid negotiation over the rickety track and resulting delays to train schedules hastened the demise of WCF&N’s passenger service.

After college, Glen enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and served until November 30, 1956 as a Battery Clerk of the 376th, earning a Parachutist Badge and Good Conduct Medal.

He married Margaret E. Mixdorf on January 14, 1956 at First Lutheran Church in Waterloo.

He began a long career of and dedication to teaching art at Hampton, Iowa (grades 1-12) from 1957 to 1963. For one year, he moved the family to Rock Island, Illinois to teach high school art there. In 1964, he returned to Iowa for good, teaching art to grades 3-6 at Waverly-Shell Rock for the next 21 years. He taught at Wartburg College in Waverly for two summers, 1973-74.

Glen was an avid potter, selling his work at his annual Pot Shop art sale on Lime Rock Hill in Waverly, and exhibiting extensively in Iowa. He also served as Potter In Residence at the Waterloo Arts & Recreation Center in 1972, and South Bear Creek School (Decorah) in 1975-76. He also took summer ceramics classes there in 1970-71 where he invented a pneumatic “extruder” to create tube-shaped clay pieces, which he used to make many unique and creative sculptures. One of his proud projects was the purchase, move, and rebuilding of a 125-year-old log cabin north of Decorah in the 1970s.

He suffered a stroke in 1984, which forced him into retirement. In his later years, Glen enjoyed tinkering with old cars (his beloved mopars, and a 1937 Ford), caring for his loving family, assembling jigsaw puzzles, and taking care of a wooded acreage property on Lime Rock Hill near Waverly.

Survived by: his wife, one son, Paul of Janesville, Wisconsin; one daughter, Ann (Al) Tutje of Bolingbrook, Illinois; one grandchild, Alyssa Tutje; one brother, George (Jackie) Swanson of Salt Lake City, Utah; one sister, Leota Kimball of Waterloo; brothers and sisters in law, Bill (Marian) Mixdorf, Melvin Blobaum, Fred (Ruth) White, Marino (Marlys) Melsted, Frank (Carol) Mixdorf; and 21 nieces and nephews.

Preceded in death by his parents, sister in law Mary Lou Blobaum, brother in law DeWayne Kimball, and niece Sue Ellen White.