Elna Lue Jordan Swenson, 83, passed away peacefully in her sleep Wednesday morning, February 26, 2020 in Holladay, UT.
Elna was born in Moreland, Idaho on July 10, 1936, the youngest of Elijah and Mary Tanner Jordan's eleven children. She grew up on the family farm in Moreland and graduated from Snake River High School in 1954. After attending Ricks College, she lived for a time in California and Montana. Returning to Idaho, she raised 2 sons in Idaho Falls as a single mom working in clerical and secretarial jobs in the 1960s and 70s. She then worked as a Nuclear Instrument Mechanic at the DOD nuclear testing facility near Arco, ID until the end of her career. Elna worked very hard her entire life. Her two mottos were ""I can do it" and "You can depend on me".
After retirement Elna moved to Salt Lake City and was active in her local LDS Ward serving as Ward Librarian and Young Women secretary and teaching Primary. She especially enjoyed working in the extraction program. Elna has always loved antiques and in her retirement, she opened an antique shop in Heber, UT called "Yesterday's Treasures". She was also blessed with love and companionship in her later years, marrying Roland Jewett (predeceased in 2005) and David Swenson (predeceased in 2010). She called those years the happiest of her life.
She is survived by her children Dennis McDonald (Tah) and Ed McDonald (Stacy), sister-in-law Gwen Jordan, nine grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and 20 nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by husbands Roland Jewett and David Swenson; five brothers, Elijah, Nathan, Laland, Elzo and Arthur Jordan; five sisters, Ivy Erickson, Leal Stoker, Ann Clement, Mary Christensen and LaVaun Christensen; also, three nephews and one niece.
A funeral service will be held Monday March 2nd at 11:00 a.m. at Hawker Funeral Home, 132 S. Shilling Ave.
The family will meet with friends from 10:00 -11:00 a.m. at the funeral home prior to the service.
Interment will be in the Moreland Cemetery.
The Salt Lake Tribune | Salt Lake City, Utah | February 28, 2020