Willard Swiger

February 20, 1939. He was the oldest child of Edith and Roy Swiger. They had 2 more children, Ronald

Swiger and Beverly Moore before their marriage ended when Will was 7 years old. Edith later married Harold Rogers. They had 3 more children Patricia Lovan, Michael Rogers (deceased), and Myrna White.

Will lived most of his childhood in LaGrande, Oregon, where most of his mother’s family lived. His cousins

were some of his best friends. He went to Primary and Boy Scouts with them and earned merit badges. He loved hiking in the mountains and forests. At 12 he started working on his uncle’s dairy ranch, washing the cows before they were milked. He picked up the rocks and broke up clods of dirt behind his uncle’s tiller. As Will got older and bigger he worked for other farmers in their hay fields. The summer when he was 17 he went to live with his father in a near by town to work in the cannery there. He stayed there for his senior year in high school and was working in the cannery again when he got a draft notice. The Army wanted him. Will’s mother had been wanting to go to Sacramento to see her parents. Will called the draft board and told them he had to take his family to Sacramento. He drove and paid for the trip with the money he had earned working in the cannery for 2 summers. When they got home he went to see the Navy recruiter.

Will wanted to get an education. Graduating in the upper 10% of his classes qualified him for submarines. He was sent to Pearl Harbor to the Bluegill, a WWII class diesel submarine. Shortly after arriving he met a friend he had know growing up. They started taking the bus to Honolulu to church at the Baratania Street Tabernacle, Church of Jesus Christ of Laterday Saints. There he met Patricia Hardy and knew he wanted to know her better. He saw her at church and was able to talk to her at a beach party, but then she was gone. She had gone to another island with her father. The Bluegill left on a 6 month patrol before she came back. Little did either of them know they would eventually fall in love, get married, and live happily together for almost 64 years.

Will leaves behind a wife who misses him dearly, 3 sons, Willard Curtis Swiger, Wesley Roy Swiger, Todd

Patrick Swiger, and a daughter Christina Swiger Cooper. He has 8 grandchildren and 7 great

grandchildren.

Will’s Naval career spanned almost 23 years. He served his country very proudly on 5 different submarines. He took every school he could get to advance his career. Anything Will committed to do, he did well. Whether it was in his professional career, or playing racquetball, or building our house, it was his nature to do his best. After he retired from the Navy at Bangor, he continued to serve our country by teaching submarine personnel the areas of his proficiency with contract companies. He had a love for learning. He continued his education nights and earned his Master’s degree.

Will first hunted in the mountains of the Grande Round Valley as a teenager with his uncle. As a young adult he and a friend took up archery. On his first hunt with a bow he brought down a large elk. For the rest of his life he was an archer. He loved being in the mountains and being able to get so close to elk and deer.

Will had a strong faith in God and served in many different capacities in the Church and in the temple. His

life has been spared several times. When he was 52 he had a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. He survived the surgery very well, but after a week the clamp on the artery slipped. He had another aneurysm. He again survived and returned almost to his normal self. At 70 he had hip surgery and got MRSA in both hips. By the time it was found it had gone into both thigh bones. Again he survived. He was a strong, determined man.

After retirement he enjoyed home in the country in Silverdale, and his grandchildren. He and Pat took many trips together and enjoyed each other.

Aloha until we meet again