Bill Swenson was a soft-spoken leader with principles who helped lead Longmont into a new era of growth, his close friend and mayoral colleague Leona Stoecker said this week.
“Bill was a man of incredible integrity,” Stoecker said. “He was completely above reproach in every thing he said and did. “
Swenson, who died Thursday in Longmont at the age of 90, served on the city council and as mayor from 1981 to 1985. Swenson then represented Longmont in the state Legislature from 1995 to 2002.
Stoecker, who served as Longmont mayor from 1993 to 2001, said Swenson was among a group of IBM employees who moved to Longmont in the mid-1960s and started getting involved in the local community.
“So many of the IBMers were moving to Longmont and they wanted the CEO’s of all the high-tech companies to move to Longmont with them,” Stoecker said. “They knew they had it pretty good here.”
As mayor, Swenson was beginning to deal with the issues of a burgeoning population as more people moved into the city, Stoecker said. “Growth was definitely starting to be on everyone’s mind,” she said.
Swenson was born in Salina, Kansas, and graduated from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas with a degree in math, according to his obituary at Dignity Memorial. He married his Bethany classmate and best friend, Betty Nelson, “and they immediately set out with gusto to positively influence their socio-political landscapes over the next 60+ years,” the obituary states.
Swenson, after finishing his military obligations, got a second degree at Kansas State University and accepted a position as an electrical engineer with IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. In 1966, he jumped at the chance to move to IBM to move to a then-new plant in Colorado “where he would dig deep roots, raise his family, celebrate the out-of-doors and serve his community over the remaining years,” the obituary states.
Besides serving as mayor and in the state legislature, Swenson took on several leadership positions including Scout Master and Church Councilman, the obituary said. After term limits ended his stint at the Legislature, he was appointed to the State Transportation Commission, which he served into his 80s, the obituary states.
He was a faithful member of the Twin Peak Rotary Club and shared a pew with Stoecker and her family at the First Lutheran Church in Longmont.
Swenson was quiet while his wife, Betty Swenson, was outspoken and staked out her own political career in the Colorado House of Representatives, where she held a seat from 1985 to 1992.
Betty Swenson died in 2016 at the age of 83.
“Bill was the quiet one while Betty was outspoken,” Stoecker said. “They made a pretty good pair.”
The Swensons had three children, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Memorial services for Swenson will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 30, at First Evangelical Lutheran Church at 803 Third Avenue in Longmont. Donations in lieu of flowers can be given in Swenson’s name at First Lutheran or charity of choice.
