1933 – 2015
TOPSHAM — Jan Swinchatt, beloved wife of Peter and mother of Tom, Karen and Jeff, passed on Friday, April 10, at Mass General Hospital due to a severe case of interstitial lung disease.
Jan was born in Lewiston on June 30, 1933, to parents Margaret and Frank Bean. She grew up at the Cape in Otisfield, going to local schools until high school, when she attended Gould Academy, from which she graduated. She received a degree in design from Traphagen School of Design and worked for short periods for a photographer and then an advertising agency.
Jan married Peter in 1955, shortly after he graduated from college. The partnership of mutual best friends lasted almost 60 years.
Jan kept Peter company through the years of his career, living various amounts of time in McAllen, San Angelo, San Antonio and Conroe, Texas; Belleview, Neb.; Farmington, N.M.; and Denver, Colo.; before going overseas for the last 10 years of her husband’s career. Those years were spent in Jakarta, Indonesia; Tunis, Tunisia; and Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
On Peter’s retirement, she settled with him at her house on Lake Pennesseewassee in Norway. In 2004, she and Peter built a house in Topsham at Highland Green; a house in a neighborhood which she truly loved.
Jan leaves behind her husband and best friend, Peter and son, Tom, of Montgomery, Texas; daughter, Karen of Peachtree City, Ga.; and son, Jeff of Senoia, Ga. She had eight grandchildren, Jennifer, Melissa and Allison Swinchatt, Ryan, Ross and Renee Roark and Steve and Sam Swinchatt. She often expressed her love for all her children and grandchildren.
Jan would have wanted her family to make a comment about the extremely high quality of care she received at the Mid Coast Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital ICUs. Dr. McCormick and the nurses in the ICU at Mid Coast did their best for her. Dr. Richard Channick, director of pulmonary hypertension and the intern/resident team and the ICU nurses went beyond what her family members present might have expected. We thank all of them for the care given, especially Amy, Kelly, Susan, Mike, Shenley, Jason and Ryan.
Memorial condolences may be expressed at stetsonsfuneralhome.com.
Send questions/comments to the editors.