After a long and courageous battle that would devastate the strongest of human beings, Jean Swartling quietly passed away in the early morning of Friday, Feb. 9, at her home in Sun Valley. She was 67.
Jean Elizabeth Kennedy was born July 28, 1939, in Brookings, S.D., to Ruth and Lester Kennedy. She attended high school in Rapid City, S.D. As a young girl, she had a great interest in books and doted on her grandmother, Harriet Wagoneer. After graduation in 1956, she went to Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., where she majored in history. She was a prolific reader, a trait that would continue the rest of her life.
She was well-versed in a wide variety of subjects yet would keep all her knowledge to herself, unless asked. Then, if you would listen, she would patiently divulge all that she knew on the subject at hand.
She met medical student Rodney Dale Swartling in college and married him in 1962. They lived in Iowa City, Philadelphia, and then Honolulu, where Rod practiced medicine in the Navy and their two children, Tricia and Eric, were born. After Rod completed his military duties, they lived in Philadelphia and San Francisco until finally settling in Twin Falls, Idaho, where he started a medical practice in orthopedics.
In Twin Falls, Jean joined the Ascension Episcopal Church, along with many social and fraternal organizations, developing an interest in stained-glass creations and cultivating many long-term friendships.
One of these friendships was with Dennis McCracken, a florist and collaborator with Jean in many events and projects.
"Life was always an adventure with Jean," he said. "She possessed a very, dry sense of humor that saw us through a lot of challenging times. We made a Christmas tree out of acrylics and lights for the annual Festival of Trees in the basement of her home one year, only to discover that it was too bulky and heavy to move upstairs and out of the house. It took us hours to lighten the project so that we could get it over to the festival.
"Another time, we created a tree out of angels and bells and delivered it to the same organization. It was beautiful except for the fact that we couldn't stop the bells from ringing. The Festival of Trees staff all went 'nuts.' She designed a wonderful stained-glass window for the chapel of the orthopedic wing of the Magic Valley Hospital and one for the Ascension Episcopal Church and both are still there. She was a wonderful woman and friend for over 25 years."
One of the great joys of Jean and Rob's marriage were their visits to Sun Valley. Starting in the 1970s, they maintained a condominium up in the mountains where they skied, played tennis and entertained friends and family for years. Eventually, they bought a piece of land off Saddle Road in Sun Valley and later built her dream home.
In 1990, Jean and Rod divorced. He returned to his practice in Twin Falls and Jean moved in permanently into the Sun Valley residence. After their divorce, the two reunited, but never remarried. A short time later, Rob developed a staph infection while on holiday and died in 1997. Jean was experiencing breathing problems during the mid-1990s and was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension. She received a lung transplant in 2000, followed by another in 2002.
In 1995, Jean attended the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls and received certificates in computer applications and desktop publishing. Upon completion of her training, she was hired by the Idaho Mountain Express in Ketchum. Her joke resumé, which is still in the files, reads, "Jean Swartling, Tough Old Broad, will work for Jack Daniels."
Express Publisher Pam Morris described the interview. "She came in about the second week in December, sat down and told me she was changing her profession. She'd finished a course of computer graphics and wanted to know if she could intern at the paper.
"I said, 'OK, you can start Monday morning.' Jean said, 'Wait a minute. I was thinking of after the first of the year in January.' I said, 'Well, the only way you're going to learn is to jump right in.' She started the next Monday and soon had won the hearts of the whole staff."
One of her first and closest friends at the paper was Wendy Hall Speth, who had arrived in town in 1998. "Jean was like a mom to me. We worked together for two and a half years. She was a real trooper and was eager to learn and never complained. Although she was practically computer illiterate in page layout, she was determined to master the task.
"She was a loving, supportive person. Once, she came to see me play hockey at the Sun Valley Ice Rink. She sat up there in the stands with her oxygen tank and tubing and loudly cheered me on. One time at work, I could hear funny sounds coming from the voice of Jean who said, 'I don't feel so good.' Someone was standing on her rubber hose to the tank. She was a classic."
Another Express employee, photographer Willy Cook, remembers attending many a party at Jean's house through the years. "I remember one New Year's Day and a meeting of the Polar Bear Club right after we had jumped in the Wood River. We all went to Jean's for breakfast. We declared it Viking Leadership Day and all wore salad bowls and colanders on our heads in her kitchen drinking Jack Daniels.
"She was an incredibly classy woman who turned out to be a great friend. My biggest feeling and reflection was that I had the privilege to work and to party with her. As bad as a hand that she was dealt, she never complained. ... Dignity, grace, class ... I'll miss her."
In July 2000, Jean underwent her first lung transplant in Salt Lake City when a donor suddenly became available. A year and a half later, she came down with pneumonia and was in the hospital for more than six months with tubes blocking her throat so that she couldn't talk. In November 2002, she endured her second lung transplant, which held until her death last week.
Upon returning home, she realized that she really needed help in her life. Mary Gibson, a onetime co-worker at the Mountain Express who promised Jean once that "if she ever needed help, she would be there," moved into Jean's house in 2002 and stayed until her death.
"I think of her now running through a field of flowers, free from tubes and oxygen tanks breathing in the sweet, aromatic air," Gibson said. "We settled into a workable routine with me doing the cooking and supervising the household duties under her watchful and approving eye.
In the fall of 2006, Jean had to return to Salt Lake City and the hospital again. Finally, in the early morning of Feb. 9, she drew her last from the oxygen tank and went running in that field of flowers.
-Chris Millspaugh
Jean Elizabeth Swartling, ne้ Kennedy, was raised in South Dakota and attended Rapid City High School.
