Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search results

Swanlund, Mary Jo, 1933-2002

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: June 16, 1933 - April 27, 2002

biographical information

Mary (Jo) Carty was born June 16, 1933. She attended high school at Maplewood Richmond Heights in St. Louis (Maplewood), Missouri. After several years of letter writing while he attended Purdue University, Mary Jo and Cliff Swanlund were engaged August 23, 1952, a month before Cliff entered his senior year at Purdue. They married on June 20, 1953 at the Maplewood Baptist Church. The two had a son Chuck (1959) and a daughter Judy (1961). After many years of moving around for Cliff's career, Jo's professional career started in 1968 when she began volunteering at St. Joseph Hospital, Department of Psychiatry. Through her efforts, the Psychiatric Volunteer Service was initiated and developed as one of only a few organizations in the country that recruited and trained volunteers for in-patient visitation on psychiatric wards. She became Staff Director (Coordinator) of the PVS in 1970. She went on to serve other hospitals in their volunteer efforts, but her career came to an abrupt end due to a stroke. She and Cliff resided in their home in Maplewood, until Jo's passing on April 27, 2002. They were married for 49 years.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Clifford and Jo Swanlund papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSA 24
Scope and Contents The Clifford and Jo Swanlund papers document the lives and careers of Cliff Swanlund and Jo Carty Swanlund. The collection contains an extensive number of letters written by Cliff and Jo from the beginning of their relationship through the early years of their marriage. It also contains many letters written by Cliff's parents to him, while he was a student at Purdue University. The correspondence gives one a unique perspective not only on the family itself, but on outside events which occurred...
Dates: 1943 - 2002; Other: Majority of material found within 1949 - 1953