Donald (Chunky) James Swenson

Donald James Swenson was born to parents Joseph (Ed) and Rose (Dosch) Swenson on May 17, 1925. He joined older siblings Bob and Betty and grew up on the Nash Estate near Wayzata, Minnesota where his dad was the Estate Manager. Brother Roy and sisters Grace, Lora and Helen (Sue) followed. They all grew up “rubbing elbows” with the wealthiest Minnetonka-area families. Dad told us stories about parking guests’ limousines at the age of eight during the Nash daughter’s wedding. He had a paper route which he got paid extra for because it covered such a big area to encompass all the large estates. Little did the Minneapolis paper know, their papers weren’t being delivered to the wealthy home owners (they got the Wall Street and New York Times) he was delivering the papers to the household staff. But he took the extra money anyway! He mowed lawns including that of the president of Dunwoody and, because of this, he was allowed to attend night school there and earned a degree in mechanics while he was still in high school (this practice was not allowed at the time). He earned the nick-name “Chunky” as a teenager and it stuck his entire life. When he graduated in 1943, and was drafted into the Army, he was sent to college in Kentucky for a “fast track” degree and, because of his mechanical degree and skills he was sent to the Heavy Automotive Maintenance Company. So, instead of storming the beaches of Normandy as most single men his age did – he was among the mechanics in England preparing the vehicles for the landing; they covered the entire undersides of the vehicles with a thick grease anticipating the water would be less than a foot deep. Unfortunately, the landing didn’t go as planned and the water was much deeper and often did a lot of damage to the vehicles. His company followed behind later repairing the damaged tanks and trucks. To think – mowing a lawn may have saved his life! After the war, he returned home and worked as a mechanic. He and brother, Roy, owned a Shell station in Manitou. He worked for his Uncle Clarence Dosch in Deephaven and finally in 1964 built his own shop, Chunk’s Garage, in Long Lake. He and Jeanne Thies were married in June of 1954 and had two children; daughter, Jodie and son, Roger. Chunk joined the Long Lake Volunteer Fire Department in 1957 and was a member for 30 years. He and Jeanne enjoyed many fishing trips and several driving trips to Florida, Colorado and Fairbanks, Alaska. He spent many years hunting and fishing at the “B Ward” north of Deer River. His last trip there was for Fishing Opener in May of 2018 for his 93rd birthday. After Chunk retired and sold the garage, he and Jeanne moved to Deerwood, MN in the summers
where they lived on Bay Lake and they owned a house in Mission, TX where they wintered. He was a proud Grandpa to Martha and Hannah and Great-Grandpa to Reid and Bennett. When the family began to realize that Jeanne was suffering from dementia and Don’s eyesight was failing, the two of them moved to Bemidji to be closer to Jodie and family. At the same time that Jeanne’s dementia was worsening, so was Chunk’s prostate cancer. We lost Mom on January 29, 2018 and we lost Dad exactly 11 months later on December 29, 2018 . He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Bob and sisters Betty Lanenberg and Sue Guenther and many, many friends and relatives. He is survived by daughter Jodie (Marvin) Kroeger; son Roger (Carol Becker) Swenson; granddaughters Martha (Alex Jacobson) Kroeger and Hannah Kroeger; great-grandsons Reid and Bennett Jacobson; his brother, Roy, sisters Grace Donley and Lora Brothers; sister-in-law LaVeeta Dosch; nieces and nephews and friends.
An Open House gathering to honor and remember Don Swenson will be held on Saturday, January 19th from 1:00—5:00 at the Long Lake Fire Station 340 N. Willow Dr., Long Lake, MN. The Fire Department will present the Ringing of the Bell Ceremony at 2:00 pm. Condolences may be sent c/o Jodie Kroeger, 8305 Red Pine Lane NE, Bemidji, MN 56601 or c/o Roger Swenson 10983 Duffield Ave. NW, Maple Lake, MN 55358 Please send memorials to your charity of choice.
Keep the shiny side up, Dad!

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