EDNA SWAB obituary

BILLINGS - Edna A. Swab, 94, of Billings died Thursday, March 23, 2006, at Tender Nest in Billings.

Vigil services will be 7 p.m. Thursday at Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary. A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Thomas The Apostal Church. Rite of Committal will be in Mountview Cemetery.

Edna was born July 27, 1911 in Williston, ND., to Joseph and Stella Swab. In 1915, the family moved to Red Lodge, where her parents established Economy Drug. Edna received her secondary education in Red Lodge, her bachelor of science from College of St. Teresa in Winona, Minn., in 1933, and a degree in English from the University of Montana in Missoula in 1936.

Edna taught school in the Billings and Red Lodge area, worked in a chemical research lab and had done some copy writing. She enjoyed school and working with her father in the family drug store. She enjoyed gardening and the outdoors and had a wonderful sense of humor.

Edna penned verses and poems since childhood and had her poetry published in several anthologies and volumes. She won a number of certificates of merit for her poetry as well as a quarter-finalist prize from the American Song Festival and a Golden Poet Award from the World of Poetry.

If asked to describe herself, Edna would say: “By profession, I am an educator; by avocation, a scientist; and by hobby, a dabbler of words.”

Edna was preceded in death by her brother, Joseph; and her sister, June Beattie McPhail.

Survivors include her nephew, Albert Beattie Sr.; nieces Patricia Jung and June Mead; dear friend, Mary Wandler of Billings; and friends in Havre, Pam West, Anthony Filler and Mavis Filler.

Memorials may be made to St. Thomas Church in Billings.