He was born in Kane on March 7, 1929, and raised in Ludlow, the oldest child and only son of Anna Dorothea (Dorothy) Olson and Ernest William Swanson. He was a proud graduate of the last class at Ludlow High School, and its valedictorian, although he liked to say that he still failed to graduate in the top 10 percent of the class; that’s because it had just eight students. After serving two years in the Army, he went to Pennsylvania State University, where he earned a degree in physics in 1953.

A few weeks after graduation, he married Nancy Ruth Miller, who had grown up in Barnes and who survives; they moved together to New Haven, Connecticut for three years so he could attend Yale Law School, after which he returned home and practiced law for nearly 50 years.

He once said he wanted to have a dozen children, but settled for six: David (Nels) of London, England; Eric of Devon, PA; Kirsten Turfitt of Warren; Karl of Missoula, MT; Karen (Tia) of South Orange, NJ; and Elisa Gordon of Richmond, VA. He also is survived by three sons- and three daughters-in-law: Hallie Campbell Swanson, Susan Gerbron Swanson, Myron Turfitt, Mary Beth Devine Swanson, Christopher Mumma and Eric Gordon; 17 grandchildren; his sisters, Margaret Porterfield of Ludlow and Katherine Berger of Sugar Grove; a brother-in-law, Kurt Berger; a niece and two nephews, and several cousins he considered among his closest friends.

He served on the Warren County School Board for many years, including as its president; and he was the longtime lay leader of the Barnes United Methodist Church. More recently, he gave the weekly bird report there.

An avid outdoorsman and natural teacher, he routinely asked those with him when the occasion arose to identify trees, bird songs and rock formations. And he devoted many an evening, no matter the temperature, to star gazing.

He took his father to visit Sweden and dozens of long lost cousins there, in 1978, the first of many trips. Later, he spent months planning reunions between relatives on both sides of the Atlantic.

He started downhill skiing in his late 50s, and for many winters planned obsessively for trips to ski slopes near and far. He also was an ardent runner, and completed several marathons. He and Nancy traveled widely, often in the company of children, cousins or school friends, walking and hiking whenever the opportunity arose; they camped in the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, made it to the base of the Grand Canyon and back up again — twice; hiked north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland; and rode elephants in Nepal. Whenever possible in their travels, they took one or two, and once, four, grandchildren with them.

Friends may come to visit at the Barnes United Methodist Church on Thursday, Dec. 18 between 2 and 4 and 6 and 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held at the church at 11 a.m. the following morning. Burial will be private. Memorial donations may be made to the Barnes United Methodist Church or Hospice of Warren County.