Former Carol Stream mayor remembered as 'community-minded,' family man

Whenever Don Swanson flew over the West suburbs at night, the airline pilot always kept a lookout for one landmark.

It wasn't an iconic building or a scenic landscape, but a water tower. What's so special about that?

The structure stood out in the darkness because of an illuminated, neon sign - "Carol Stream." But it also reminded Swanson that he was approaching the end of his journey.

"Then he knew he was close to home," longtime resident Barb O'Rahilly said.

Swanson often liked to tell that story around Carol Stream, his home for 30 years. In between flights for United Airlines, Swanson still managed to do it all. His public career included serving as Carol Stream's mayor, a village trustee, a planning and zoning commissioner - and DuPage County Board member.

"My husband was very community-minded, and he was a family man," said Natalie Swanson, his wife of nearly 60 years. "He just wanted to make things better for his village."

Her husband, a "jack-of-all-trades," died May 22. He was 81. Services were Friday.

"He was an asset to the community. That's the best way I can describe him," said Mike Tuman, who met Swanson when he worked as a volunteer firefighter.

His tenure as mayor ran from 1969 to 1971, and then again from 1975 to 1979, a time when "the village was growing by leaps and bounds," said O'Rahilly, a Carol Stream Historical Society board member.

He and other leaders were shepherding a construction boom with a smaller staff than what the village has today, Trustee Rick Gieser said. In 2009, he interviewed Swanson and other former mayors for a taped series celebrating Carol Stream's 50th anniversary.

"He seemed to be a very collaborative person, very willing to hear new ideas," Gieser said.

As a volunteer firefighter in what later became the Carol Stream Fire Protection District, Swanson was reliable on the job, "very hardworking," said Tuman, then the fire chief.

"If you needed help, he helped," Tuman said. "You didn't have to ask for it."

He and his wife would have had four children. One son died a day after he was born in 1959.

"We were always there for one another," Natalie Swanson said. "We had a very good marriage. We did most everything together. We were very blessed."

After Swanson retired as a DC-10 captain at United, the U.S. Air Force veteran loved to spend time with his family at their 43-acre farm in Elgin Township.

"He always said, 'We don't raise animals on this farm,'" Natalie said. "'We raise grandchildren.'"