ROBERT J. SWIFT

Robert J. Swift Sr., 84, died May 22, 2008 at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. A graveside service was held Saturday, May 31, at the Palmer Pioneer Cemetery. A reception followed at the Hamilton Farms.

Swift was born Oct. 5, 1923 in McLaughlin, S.D. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945 as a combat engineer with the 12th Combat Battalion. He laid and deactivated landmines. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and sent home.

He was a resident of Palmer and has been an Alaska resident since February of 1957.

Swift was in the construction industry as a heavy-duty mechanic in Black Hills, S.D., and the western United States and extensively in Alaska remote sites. He retired in the mid 1980s. His hobbies included horses, flying and boating.

His family stated, “Here was a guy who took dares very seriously. He flew and he fished commercially, had an excavation business he started after retiring, and he grew an apple orchard.”

He is survived by his son Robert Swift Jr. and daughter-in-law Gisela, and daughter Barbara Hamilton and son-in-law Steve, all of Palmer; grandchildren Stephen Hamilton of Cleveland, Ohio, and John Hamilton, Scott Hamilton and Kim Adee, and eight great grandchildren, all of Palmer.

Arrangements entrusted to Kehl’s Palmer Mortuary.