Richard Arthur Swanson, known as Dick to friends and affectionately as Dude to his grandchildren, 97, of Staatsburg, New York, died peacefully on Friday, December 13, 2024, at home.

Born on July 25, 1927, in Nyack, New York, Dick was the elder son of the late Otto Emmanuel Swanson and Marjorie Clark Swanson. He had one brother, Gerry, born in 1929.

Dick grew up spending much of his free time camping and traveling upstate, first to Pecks Lake area and later to the Adirondacks with his family. His dream to become a forest ranger was put on hold after being drafted into World War II. Aptitude testing by the US Navy immediately identified his talent for electronics, and he was placed as a radar specialist on tankers in the Pacific, serving from 1945 to 1948. In recognition of his trips westward across the International Date Line, Dick was awarded membership in the Order of Flying Dragons - a certificate only recently discovered in his personal effects.

After returning from naval service, Dick matriculated into Clarkson University where he graduated with a degree in engineering. He went on to work for IBM as an engineer for his entire career, cultivating many deep and lifelong friendships. Given his 6'4" stature, he was also a key player on the IBM volleyball and basketball teams. On December 19, 1959, he married the former Mary Gray. Mary predeceased him on February 9th, 2019.

Dick retired from IBM in 1990 and happily embraced retired life through gardening, traveling, and many other hobbies. He also dedicated time to the West Clinton Fire Department, where he served as commissioner for several years.

Dick was an avid reader and an amazing resource of information on a wide variety of topics. He particularly loved science, both fiction and real. In addition to his garden, some of his greatest enjoyments were spending time hiking and boating with family at "camp" in the Adirondacks which he continued well into his 90s. Perhaps his greatest joy was trout and fly fishing on the Ausable River and various secret Adirondack ponds, a tradition taught to him at an early age by his father. He passed that tradition down to his grandchildren, who all loved fishing for "the big one" with Dude.

Dick's love of the outdoors extended to skiing, a sport he took up because of his wife, Mary, a proficient skier. He was determined to ski into his later years and was very proud of the fact that he skied the Swiss Alps at 76 with his family. His policy of first on, last off the mountain will never be forgotten!

Equal to that of the mountains was Dick's love of the ocean. From Barnegat Light to Nantucket to the Caribbean, Dick was never happier than being at the sea. From combing the beach for miles looking for that perfect shell; to snorkeling; to crabbing, fishing, clamming, and scalloping, he retained a lifelong sense of wonder and deep appreciation for all things of the natural world. This of course included his many animal family members of cats, horses, and beloved Labradors.

Music was another important part of Dick's life. You would often come in and find him listening to music, especially in his later years. He equally appreciated big band, classical, and jazz, and had a vast record collection of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa and the like.

Dick was an avid, and sometimes long-suffering supporter and follower of New York Sports teams. Yankees, Giants, Knicks, and Ranger games could always be found playing on his TV. Dick was known to turn off the game temporarily, as he always felt his teams did better when he was not watching.

An adventurous and enthusiastic eater, Dick was always eager to try new things, firmly believing that hot sauce made almost everything better. The only thing that rivaled his love for spicy food was his nightly ritual of enjoying a "dry as a desert" gin martini, which he credited with contributing to his longevity.

One of Dick's grandsons fondly described him as a man with a dry, occasionally curmudgeonly, wit. We will all remember him as a father who unfailingly came when we needed him.

Dick is survived by his two children, Richard Swanson (Marie Minozzi-Swanson) and Korin Swanson (Graham Trask) along with four grandchildren, Christian Swanson, Ryan Swanson, Richard Graham Trask, and Verane Trask, great grandson Carter Swanson, who referred to Dick as his hero, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. He was predeceased by his grandson Michael Richard Swanson.

In keeping with his wishes, cremation has taken place. A celebration of life will occur later in the spring.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Heifer International or the Wounded Warrier Project, both charities near and dear to him.

To send an online condolence, please visit: www.sweetsfuneralhome.com

Memories of Dude from his grandchildren

Christian Swanson

I recall him showing me Planet Earth (the david Attenborough series) when I was younger, and him commenting on it as I watched it. Later on, when he was babysitting us at home, I showed him an episode of Penn and Teller's BS, and he loved that as well.

We watched an episode debunking the idea of ghosts, and there was a segment gag where Penn Jillette is speaking to the audience while a bunch of fully nude elderly people walk around in the background behind him. Penn's overall point, the gag of the segment, was just that it made no sense for ghosts to be wearing clothes, and that if they were a real, scientific phenomena, we'd be hearing all these reports of people seeing gross old ugly naked old people wandering around haunted houses, but we never do. When I put that episode on, I didn't know that segment was going to be in it, and when the naked people started showing up on screen, I was terrified grandpa was going to be upset, but he was dying laughing at it. He yelled "He's right, it's true!" at the tv.

Ryan Swanson

A story that always stuck with me for some reason (not sure why) was when I was very young probably 5-6 and grandpa was watching me and he wanted to make breakfast in the morning and decided on eggs. He asked if I was okay with him putting cheese in them because that's how he liked them which I had never had before. With me being a very picky eater at that age i immediately said no and demanded he put cheese no where near my eggs. He frivolously tried arguing for a few moments and then gave in as i said i would not eat it unless there was no cheese in sight.

While he was not happy doing so, he scrambled up some eggs and gave me a plate. It was the first time i ever ate his scrambled eggs and remember thinking how they were the best i ever had and told him "see you didn't need to put cheese in it its amazing as is." While this was not a rare event i did finish and clean the entire plate and asked him for more. To which he gave me a sly smile and asked "do you want me to put cheese in those ones too?" Unbeknownst to me, the eggs i had raved over were cooked with cheese and i loved every second of it. While I felt swindled at the time, for some reason i find myself thinking about this egg related incident way too often and smile. Not sure what the point of the story is and whether its something that displays his wit, his cooking ability or just shows his devout stubbornness and disdain towards changing the way he likes doing things that we all grew to love and expect from him.

While I could go on and on and give the same cheesy sentiment of how he was the most kind loving grandfather ever for some reason this story based on scrambled eggs is something that will stick with me forever. Also was pretty cool he let us play paintball in his woods.

Richard Graham Trask-

One of my fondest memories of my grandpa was when we would go fishing when I was young. He would always take me to the best fishing spots around Saranac Lake that he had learned over his many years of being there. And while we weren't often successful at the fishing part, I always treasured the quality time that it gave us together.

Dude, Richard Graham Trask, & Verane Flore Trask at Camp

Verane Trask-

As a kid, one of the things I looked forward to most was going up to Saranac, knowing I'd get to spend time fishing with Dude. He spent a lot of time teaching me how to fish—showing me how to cast properly, helping us reel in the fish, and removing the hooks from their mouths. But honestly, most of his time was spent untangling my fishing line.

After several trips with a very low fish-catching success rate, I asked Dude what the best lure he'd ever used was. He said indefinitely it was a lure called the pearly wobbler. I became convinced that this lure was the reason I wasn't catching fish, and I searched the internet for one, sure that it would change everything ( and I would finally catch the pike my brother had been dying to catch). Dude swore that whenever he used it, a fish would bite the second it hit the water.

I believe the only thing standing between me and fishing success is access to this rare and magical lure. And once I find it, maybe I'll be able to fish as well as dude.