The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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January 2, 2010

Marian Ruth (Swanson) Johnson

Marian Ruth (Swanson) Johnson, age 89, of St. Peter, died Friday, January 1, 2010 at the Benedictine Living Community in St. Peter.

Funeral service will be at 10:00 a.m., Monday, January 4, 2010 at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Peter. Private burial will take place in Lake Fremont Cemetery in Dunnell, MN. Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m., Sunday, January 3, 2010 at St. Peter Funeral Home-Klein Chapel and will continue one prior to the service at the church on Monday.

Marian Ruth Swanson was born on November 5, 1920 in Dunnell, Minnesota. Her parents were Emil G. and Laura (Peterson) Swanson. She was baptized and confirmed in Immanuel Lutheran Church in Dunnell where her family had been long standing members.

She was educated in the Dunnell and Sherburn, Minnesota public schools, graduating from Sherburn High School as Salutatorian in 1937. While in high school she was a correspondent for the Fairmont Daily News, Sherburn Advance-Standard and the Estherville Daily News. She then attended Gustavus Adolphus College, graduating magna cum laude in 1941. Following graduation, she was employed as a teacher and librarian at high schools in Balaton, Luverne, and St. Peter. She was the founder of the libraries in the St. Peter public elementary schools in 1947. She subsequently was an instructor in English and Library Science and a periodicals librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College. Her graduate study was at the School of Library Science, at the University of Chicago.

She was married to Chester Otto Johnson at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Dunnell MN on November 4, 1944. The couple was blessed with two children Christine A. and Martin C. Johnson.

Throughout her life, she had been an active supporter of Gustavus Adolphus College, being the recipient along with her husband of the Greater Gustavus Award in 2002. She had been Class Agent for the Gustavus Adolphus College Class of 1941 for 40 years and was Class Agent of the Year in 1966, 1981 and 1991. She established the Class of 1941 fund for the support of the study of the history of Gustavus Adolphus College. In addition, she served as President and historian of the Gustavus Faculty Women’s Club, historian of the St. Lucia ceremony at Gustavus, and member of the Gustavus Library Associates and of the Linnaeus Arboretum.

She also was an active supporter of Trinity Lutheran Church. She was the first woman member of the Trinity Lutheran Church Council as well as the first woman church council member in the synod. She was the founder of the Trinity Lutheran Church parish library. This library won the first John Cotton Dana award given to a parish by the American Library Association. She was the author of two books, Planning and Furnishing Your Church Library and Promoting your Church Library, both published by the Augsburg press. She was a charter member and president of the Lutheran Church Library Association. She also was a member of the National Committee of Lutheran Church Women, LCA.

She is preceded in death by husband Chester on December 8, 2009. She is survived by children Christine Feldman, and husband Ira of Chicago, IL and Martin Johnson, and wife Gail of San Jose, CA; grandchildren, Amelia C. Johnson of San Jose, Joseph Feldman and wife, Ellen of Plymouth, MN and Lisa Feldman of Chicago, IL; great-grandchildren, Evelyn and Kira Feldman of Plymouth, MN

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