Larry A. Swanson

Larry Allen Swanson, age 75, of Frankfort, Kansas, passed away on May 20, 2025, at the Frankfort Community Care Home.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, May 29, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Padden Funeral Chapel in Frankfort.  The family will be present to receive friends. 

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, May 30, at Salem Lutheran Church, south of Axtell. 

The pallbearers will be Rod Stewart, Fred Rosequist, Clint Sandmann, David Winquist, and Robert Koch.

Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Larry was born on March 10, 1950, in Seneca, Kansas, the son of Harvey and Inez Swanson. He was baptized on April 9, 1950, at Salem Lutheran Church, south of Axtell, where he was later confirmed on June 6, 1965. He attended schools in Vermillion, Centralia, and Frankfort, graduating from Frankfort High School in 1968. Larry went on to attend Kansas State University and later earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Washburn University in 1975.

In his youth, Larry was active in Boy Scouts and earned the Pro Deo et Patria (God and Country) award. He later served as a Cubmaster and remained active in the community through his involvement with the Marshall County Genealogical Society.

Larry was a lifelong and dedicated member of Salem Lutheran Church, where he served in numerous roles over the years: six terms on the church council, three Call Committees, Sunday School teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, and treasurer for both the Church General Fund and Scholarship Fund. Together with his wife Pauline, he chaired the church’s 125th Anniversary Committee and helped operate a tape ministry for shut-ins for about a decade. Larry also served as Treasurer for three years for the Heartland District of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.

Professionally, Larry dedicated 29 years to federal service as a Senior Auditor for the U.S. Army. He worked in both the Internal Review Office at Fort Riley and for the U.S. Army Audit Agency in various capacities and locations. During his career, he was a Certified Government Financial Manager and an active member of the American Society of Military Comptrollers and the Association of Government Accountants. He and Pauline also operated their own tax and bookkeeping service.

Before his federal service, Larry worked in several roles including selling farm supplies, bookkeeping, satellite TV installation, and as a Union Pacific Railroad Signalman. While in high school, he worked with his father in soil conservation construction.

Larry had many personal passions. He loved gardening and working in the yard with Pauline, and together they shared a love of classic cars—enjoying cruises in their restored 1930 Ford Model A Coupe and later working on a 1956 Chevy.

Larry was married to Carole Howell in 1972; they later divorced in 1988. In 1993, he married Pauline Baker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She survives him at their home in Frankfort. He is also survived by his son, Joshua Allen Swanson of Denver, CO; daughter, Megan Marie Swanson of Denver, CO; and three sisters: Lyla Smith of Topeka, KS; Colleen Combs of Frankfort; and Kathy Ketter of Home, KS.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Terry L. Swanson (1991); his father, Harvey L. Swanson (2005); and his mother, Inez E. Swanson (2023).

Memorial contributions in Larry’s memory may be made to Salem Lutheran Church and sent in care of Padden Funeral Chapel, ℅ Kinsley Mortuary, P.O. Box 147, Marysville, KS 66508.