Swinson services
Services for Vernon N. Swinson, 91, Lawrence, will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Graveside services will be 1 p.m. Friday at Pratt Cemetery.
Mr. Swinson died Saturday, July 3, 2004, at Windsor House in Lawrence.
He was born Feb. 11, 1913, in Pratt County, the son of Fred F. and Laura E. Roots Swinson.
Mr. Swinson began flying at the age of 15 and at that time was the youngest pilot in the state of Kansas. He earned a degree from the business school at Kansas University.
During World War II Mr. Swinson joined the Army Air Corps and taught flying to cadets in Bonham, Texas. He also flew supply planes over the Himalayan Mountains during the war.
Mr. Swinson worked with his father in an automobile dealership in Pratt. He returned to Pratt after the war and established Swinson Brothers Flying Service with his brother, Earl. In 1975 he moved to Fort Collins, Colo., to sell real estate. He then moved to Sun City, Ariz., to join the Ken Meade Agency. He retired in 1998.
He married Margaret L. Swinehart on Sept. 29, 1935. They were married 62 years before she died.
Survivors include three children, Lawrence F., Lawrence; Kenneth E., Mesa, Ariz., and Janet L. Swinson, Leawood; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
The family will receive friends from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Lawrence Funeral Chapel. The family suggests memorials to the church building fund or to Douglas County Visiting Nurses Assn.