Kay N. Rowe

Kay was born on January 27, 1936, and was raised by her mother, Katherine, and her loving extended family in the beautiful brownstone Foursquare-style home handcrafted by her grandfather, William Brown, on Grand Boulevard in Park Ridge, Illinois.

Kay loved animals, nature, family, friends and, most of all, her watercolor painting. An accomplished artist, Kay attended many art fairs over the years where she displayed and sold her beautiful paintings. She was a member of watercolor societies in Park Ridge, IL, Chagrin Falls, OH, Charlottesville, VA, and Richmond, VA. She graduated from Maine High School in Park Ridge and then attended a year at Drake University in Des Moines, IA where she met and married Robert L. Swanson in 1955. They had a busy home life with their four sons: Steven Adrian, Douglas James, John Robert, and William Andrew Swanson. They moved all over the country for new opportunities - first to Kansas City, MO, then Waterbury, VT, and then back to Park Ridge. Kay loved hosting family and friends in her cozy home on Ashland Avenue in Park Ridge. Home meant the most to her and nothing made her smile more than quality time with her family, especially her sons. We will always remember how she would happily sing and hum as she went about her day.

In addition to painting, Kay also enjoyed volunteering, cooking and baking, decorating, antiquing, gardening, traveling, reading, playing board games, playing tennis and golf, and, most of all, spoiling her pet cats Tuffy, Tao, Chip, and her dogs Bear and Amber, among others unnamed. She even took up the acoustic guitar a bit and would regale us with her rendition of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” that Tiny Tim novelty song from the 60s.

In 1979, Kay married Willard Chase Rowe and celebrated 44 years of happy marriage together. They moved with John and William to Moreland Hills, Ohio. Kay worked in the early 80s as an art director/layout designer in the advertising department at The Trader, a small Chagrin Falls weekly paper. Kay loved to tell the story about working there with an artist named Bill Watterson, who not much later would achieve global fame as the creator of the ground-breaking, brilliant and timeless comic strip Calvin and Hobbes!

In 1988, they moved for a short stint in Tucson, AZ, where Kay worked as an artisan at a design studio. Missing the Eastern United States woodlands, birds, and animals, as well as their families, Kay and Will moved back East in 1991. Their first stop was Charlottesville, VA where they were close to Monticello, the University of Virginia, and many other historical sites. They were active exploring the area, making new friends and hosting their blended families for many visits. Kay brought her mother Katherine close by where she lived her last years in assisted living. When they themselves needed more assistance from family, they moved in 2011 to Henrico, VA to live just 5 minutes from Will’s son Bruce and his wife Joy who did so much to help care for them both until Will’s passing in 2023. In early 2024, Kay took her final earthly journey to the Philadelphia, PA area to be closer to her son John, daughter-in-law, Greta and granddaughter, Annika, spending her remaining days at The Pathways in Warrington, PA. This year marked a lot of family visits. In July 2025, Kay had a wonderful visit with her granddaughter, Sally and her great grandson, Owen. She was affectionately known by her grandchildren as "Grandma Kay".

She had a great lunch out at a nice restaurant with her sons Steve, John and Bill in August. The family would like to thank the directors, nurses, and staff at Pathways for all they did to make Kay’s time there as peaceful and comfortable as possible for her. The nurses and doctors at the Doylestown Hospital were so incredibly competent, compassionate and empathetic. Our families cannot thank all of these care givers enough for assisting Kay on her journey home.

Kay is survived by her brother, John Nielsen (Ellen), of Saline, Michigan; sons, Steven Adrian Swanson (Elizabeth Bitsy Beal), of Park City, UT, John Robert Swanson (Greta), of Huntingdon Valley, PA, and William Andrew Swanson (Eliza Newbold), of San Francisco, CA; her grandson, John Soren Swanson, of Arlington, TX; her granddaughters, Katherine Sala "Sally" Swanson, of Alvarado, TX, Elsa Rudolph Swanson, of Oakland, CA, and Annika Claire Swanson, of Huntingdon Valley, PA, and Oona Newbold, of San Francisco, CA; her great Grandson, Owen Saife Graf, of Alvarado, TX; her stepson, Bruce C. Rowe (Joy), of Richmond, VA, and their children Lindsay and Matthew; her stepdaughter, Gail Simons (Bill) of Edina, MN, and their children Julia and David.

She was predeceased by her husband, Willard C. Rowe; her grandparents, William and Renatta Brown; her loving mother, Katherine Brown Nielsen; her father, Herbert Osburn; her loving adoptive father,  Albert J. Nielsen; her uncle, Norman Brown, and his wife Bets; her aunt, Margaret Burrows and husband William “Bus” Burrows; her aunt, Ruth Osburn and husband Walter; her brother, James Nielsen; and her son, Douglas James Swanson.  

The immediate family plans to have a private memorial service for Kay in Chicago at the Brown family plot at the Union Ridge Cemetery in the summer of 2026.

The family kindly requests that any donations be made in Kay’s memory to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), or the Alzheimer’s Association.