Kenneth Lloyd Swain

It is with sadness for his temporary loss and gratitude for a life well lived, that we announce the passing of Kenneth Lloyd Swain in Provo, Utah on April 28, 2023, surrounded by his loved ones. Our beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, great grandfather, and friend, Ken was born in Salt Lake City on July 7, 1936, to Hazel and A.L. Swain.

Typical of those times, Ken and his neighborhood friends played tag, had rock fights, rubber gun fights and played pranks on their grouchy neighbor. The neighbor hated kids and stole any ball that fell into his yard. So, they would ding-dong ditch to get the grouchy neighbor to chase them. He started parking his car on the street so he could chase them in the car. "On Halloween, we took a rope and tied it to the bumper of his car, ran it down one side of that picket fence and then back up the other, missing the upright posts, tied the other end to his bumper and then ding-dong ditched him. When he came out, we were going straight up 19th East. He jumped in his car to chase us and took out all of the pickets in his own fence."

Ken was calm under pressure and had a quick wit from an early age. When they were fishing, his dad told him to drive the new truck up the road a couple miles. Ken was about 12 and told his dad that he didn't know how to drive. His dad responded, “you're not going to learn any younger". It was a stick shift, "but knowing my father I decided that I had better solve the problem very soon as that truck needed to be two miles up the road when Dad got there. After many engine kills, I figured out how to drive it and went up the road."

Ken worked steadily from the age of 11 at a variety of jobs. He cleaned and shellacked old paint buckets, had a paper route, worked at Skagg's grocery store, and as he got older helped his dad in his painting business. Ken worked and played hard his whole life. He was State Champion in the half mile in his Jr. and Sr. years, setting a Utah record in his Sr. year. He graduated from South High School in Salt Lake City in 1955. During his senior year he joined the Utah Air National Guard.

After not finding anything for two years that interested him at the University of Utah, he decided to be a pilot. He went to preflight training in Texas and flight training in Florida. The training was very rigorous, out of 185 people who started only 42 finished. Ken thought that it was a walk in the park compared to the work he had been doing for his dad. He learned to fly a T-34, T-28, and a T-33 which he had to fly solo the first time he flew it since they didn’t have any 2-seater training aircraft. His quick learning from his youth was quite helpful!

After two years away from Salt Lake, Ken met his sweetheart Sylvia at an LDS social in 1958 that included roller skating and quickly fell in love. They were married and sealed for all eternity on September 2,1959, in the Salt Lake City Temple and enjoyed a loving life together.

Ken was an air traffic controller for about 9 months but couldn’t stand it. His passion in life was flying, so they moved from Albuquerque to Denver (where Mike was born) to train for United Airlines. His career took his family from Denver to New Jersey, (Sandy, Bonnie and Pam were born there), Chicago (where Steven and Shauna were born) and finally Seattle.

He loved to travel with his family and share the cultures of the world with them; of course, only if there was standby room on the airplane! After retirement at the age of 60, Ken and Sylvia traveled regularly in their RV, especially to Yuma, Arizona in the winter. Everywhere he went, he made church service and attendance a priority in his life, serving in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in many capacities including serving the youth in Young Men’s and scouting, Stake executive secretary, membership clerk, and as Bishop of the Wheaton Ward.

Ken and Sylvia served 3 missions together, first in Seattle, next the Philippines, and finally the Heber Valley Camp, where their main qualification, besides their willingness to serve, was their RV and four wheelers. They made many lifelong friends in all the places that they lived as they served others. Ken dedicated his life to the Lord and his family, working hard with good humor. He loved to joke and endured his final days with patience and good humor.

He is survived by his cherished wife Sylvia, his children, Mike Swain (Kyra), Sandy Dildine (Jeff), Bonnie Zundel (Alan), Pam Nielsen (Jason), Steven Swain (Merilee), Shauna Campbell (AJ) and sister Betty Thompson (Arnie). He is a loving grandfather to 23 and great grandfather to 22. He was preceded in death by his parents, A.L. and Hazel Swain and his brothers, Keith Swain (Cathy) and Ralph Swain, (who died in infancy).

We are grateful for the loving service of the caregivers from Jamestown and from Envision Hospice.

Services will be held on Thursday, May 4 at 11 am at the Draper 2nd Ward building at 1617 E 12700 S, Draper, UT. Viewing will be from 9:30-10:30 preceding the funeral.

Interment will be at Wasatch Lawn at 3401 S Highland Dr., Millcreek, Utah.

Those wishing to view the COMPLETED service via Zoom can click the "Watch Services" button or follow the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/MeIdGxbtXvJlfUnPmDbYWxc_ewaZz0stRNJy3NQZpN51du4c6I9EgAzWPxS22z45.i9Z_MQ1u3XB9vO3E?startTime=1683218226000