George and Doris Swenson, Sidney, MT

Celebration of Life Services for George and Doris Swenson will be Saturday, April 27, 2024, at 2 p.m., at Peoples Congregational Church, Sidney, with Pastor Tim Tharp officiating. Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Sidney, MT., is assisting the family. Remembrances, condolences, and pictures may be shared with the family at http://www.fulkersons.com.

Doris was the fourth child of Beulah and John Obergfell, arriving in Sidney on Dec. 22, 1927, after her oldest brother, Gussie, took her and Beulah, via a horse drawn stone-boat, on a cold ride across town to the home of John's sister, Annie Williams, to be delivered. Mom weighed slightly over three pounds at birth and was placed on the kitchen woodstove oven for warmth.

George, the second child of Oscar and Iva (Sando) Swenson, was born on Feb. 22, 1928, in Audubon, MN., and began his tenure in the Sidney area when his family moved there in the summer of 1936. Dad signed up for his Social Security card in 1937 and started setting pins at the Sidney Bowling Center at the age of 9, establishing his strong work ethic.

George and Doris knew each other from an early age, yet dad did not ask her out until after they graduated. Doris graduated high school in 1945 and George in 1946. Even when warned by a friend of dad's not to go out with him, mom still did, and the rest was history. Dad enrolled in the School of Engineering at Montana State University in the fall of '47. Missing Mom, he returned home, and they were united in marriage at Peoples Congregational Church on Sept. 20, 1947. Their family was completed with the births of their two daughters: Jeri Dee and Blinda Zoan.

During her school years, Doris worked at the Princess and Roxy theaters as an usher and after graduation started her clerical career in the bookkeeping department of the Richland National Bank, followed by stints at Holly Sugar Corporation and the Sidney Livestock. Mom loved working in her yard and tending to her flowers. Most days in the summer you would find her working on her flower beds to make them perfect.

In 1947 George started at Holly Sugar, spending most of his years in the accounting department after completing an accounting home study course. During the school year, dad officiated basketball throughout the area and played second base for the Sidney baseball team in the summertime. In 1962, George became the business manager for the Eastern Montana Clinic and the local representative for Blue Shield of Montana. He and his brother Oscar "Doc" started a boat and travel business, Swenson's Marine, in 1965, and venturing out on his own in 1969, he started Action Auto Inc., a retail Chrysler, New Holland-Versatile dealership he operated until 1985. George continued as the local representative for Blue Cross Blue Shield until his retirement in 2004 at the age of 76.

Dad enjoyed serving his community, being on the city council when the new City Hall was built and when the new sewer main was rerouted and installed. He was on the building committee for the building of the new Peoples Congregational Church, on the board of directors during the building of Crestwood Inn and served on the SHC Clinic Board. George belonged to many service organizations including Richland Economic Development, Kiwanis, Masons, Shriners, Elks Lodge and Toastmasters. Doris belonged to Cowbells and the Peoples Church Women's Guild and taught Sunday School.

George and Doris were lifetime members of Peoples Congregational Church, Sidney Moose Lodge, and the MonDak Historical Center and you could find them always willing to lend a hand. Both enjoyed building, whether for themselves or their community and during their days together they built, remodeled and added onto many homes and investment properties. Dad and Mom dearly cherished the complexity of the landscape in Northeastern Montana and loved roaming the backroads, finding treasures, especially rocks. The biggest one Dad found for Mom took a boom truck to deliver and set it in the backyard.

Now they are where they want to be, TOGETHER, again. And we know how blessed we ARE to have had parents, who instilled in us the importance of heritage, a good work ethic, and a circle of strength and love that is family. Both had grown up with big extended families around and stayed close with all their brothers and sisters. So, Mom and Dad were overjoyed when their daughters' families were able to grow up in Sidney with that big loving circle of great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and lots of cousins all around. THANKS MOM AND DAD

They are survived by daughters Jeri (Rick) Stone and Blinda (Erik) Larsen, both of Sidney, grandchildren Mike (Shannon) Stone, Highlands Ranch, CO., Chris Stone, Mendota Heights, MN., Bruce (Heather) Larsen, Houston, TX, and Pete (Melissa) Larsen, Katy, TX; great-grandchildren Connor, Alex, Ashlyn and Jaclyn Stone, and Nate, Zach, Sidney, Jenna, and Taylor Larsen; Sisters-in-law Joann Swenson, Kalispell, Nancy Obergfell, Sidney, and numerous nieces and nephews.

They are proceeded in death by their parents John and Beulah Obergfell and Oscar and Iva Swenson; brothers and sisters Gussie Obergfell, Jerry Obergfell, Agnes (Obergfell) Haugen, and Peggy (Obergfell) Zadow, and Marvin Swenson, Oscar "Doc" Swenson, and Joan (Swenson) Kringen; all their brothers-in-law, most of their sisters-in-law, and one niece and four nephews.