Services
Obituary
A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, June 12, 2021 at Dows City Park.
Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at Dows City Park on Saturday, June 12, 2021.
Those planning to attend the Celebration of Life Service are invited to bring a lawn chair. Those in attendance will be asked to follow social distancing guidelines and encouraged to wear a face covering.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be made to the following: Franklin County Fair (which Duane hasn’t missed since showing hogs there as a young boy in 4-H), the Coulter Fire Department’s new building (where Duane served as a volunteer firefighter for several years), or to the Hospice Center of North Iowa who took amazing care of him during his time as a patient.
Duane George Swanson (Porkchop / Grandpa Porkchop) was born on July 16, 1953 to Betty (Hackbarth) and Raymond Swanson. Duane was born on his dad’s 30th birthday and always said “Mom gave dad one heck of a present!” Growing up they lived on a farm north of Dows. From the time he was a young boy he adored farming with his dad and brothers – it was his first love. He graduated with the class of 1971 from Dows Community School.
On August 7, 1976 Duane married Jean Andersen. They moved to their farm south of Coulter where they raised two daughters, Terri and Amy, and farmed together until their retirement after the fall harvest of 2020.
Duane was an avid fisherman and also loved to hunt, play cards, enjoy coffee with friends, write poems, and tell jokes. He made everyone smile and laugh wherever he was. Duane was very fond of his 1929 Model A and a 1939 Chevy that he had restored and took great pride in. He would travel to many cars shows and take trips around the country in them with Jean. Duane would visit with anybody that showed interest in his cars.
Duane was an active member of the Dows and Coulter communities, having helped with many local projects. He cooked wild game and fried hundreds of pounds of fish over the years for the local fish fry, golf course, and stag parties. Some of his best memories were the many fishing trips he got to take with his buddies. He was loved by all and will deeply be missed.
Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Jean, daughter Terri (Jeff) Nelson and granddaughters Emma and Ally of Ames and daughter Amy (Jim) Schultes and grandsons Collin and Tyson of Halbur.
He is survived by his siblings: Karen (Ivan) Noelck, Virgil (Jill) Swanson, Ruby (Larry) Rhines, Edward (Kim) Swanson, Linda (Jon) Allen, in-laws Beverly (Al) Lange, numerous nieces and nephews, and amazing friends.
Preceding him in death are his grandparents, parents, mother and father in-law, and a nephew and niece, Tony and Karie.