Obit: Swallow, Gaylord John (Decorah) (1944 - 1967)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Swallow, Decorah, Big Soldier, Sam

----Source: The Courier, (Waterloo, Iowa) 10/23/1967

Swallow, Gaylord John (Decorah) (13 January 1944 – October 1967)

Cycle Hits Pole, Rider is Killed

Gaylord John Swallow, 23, of 1717 Bluff St., died of crushing chest injuries at 12:48 a.m. yesterday when the motorcycle he was driving went out of control and struck a utility pole in the 100 block of Concrete St.

Swallow was riding alone on northbound vehicle that had just cleared the 18th Street Bridge.

It was Waterloo’s ninth fatal traffic accident of 1967.

Swallow was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Francis Hospital. Police were continuing their investigation of the accident yesterday.

Funeral tomorrow

Services will be tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Kearns-Dykeman Chapel. The Rev. Donald Cox, pastor of the First Assembly of God Church, will officiate.

Burial will be at Indian Mission Cemetery at Black River Falls, WI, (Now Decorah Cemetery).

The body will be taken to the Native American Church at Wisconsin Dells, Wis., for services tomorrow night.

Mr. Swallow was born Gaylord J. Decorah, at Black River Falls, Wis., on January 13, 1944, the son of Herman and Virginia (Swallow) Decorah. He was raised by his grandfather Harry Swallow at Neillsville. (He had attended Neillsville High School in his Freshman year.)

He married Christine Sam on Nov. 26, 1960, at Wisconsin Dells. They had lived in Waterloo the past 11 ½ months. They formerly lived at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and in Wisconsin.

Mr. Swallow was employed at the John Deere Waterloo Tractor Works. He was a member of the Native American Church at the Indian Settlement at Tama. He also was a member of Local 838 of the United Auto Workers.

He is survived, by his wife, three sons: Vance 6, Tyrone, 4, and Troy, 3; and a daughter Stephene 1; his mother, Mrs. Virginia Big Soldier, of Los Angeles, Calif.; four brothers; two sisters; and his grandfather Harry Swallow, Neillsville, Wis.

He was preceded in death by his father and his grandmother.

Friends may call at the Kearns-Dykeman Chapel after noon today.