Dorchester Times: DHS Grad Jane Swanson (Kaspar) Passes At 71

Sunday, June 17, 2018

DHS Grad Jane Swanson (Kaspar) Passes At 71

Dorchester area native and 1964 DHS graduate Jane Louise Swanson, 71, died Tuesday June 12, 2018, at her home in Emerald. Born October 30, 1946, to Bernard and Helen (Cerny) Kaspar. Jane grew up on their farm with her older brothers Al and Larry and attended Pleasant Hill school. Jane graduated valedictorian of her class at Dorchester High School, 1964, and completed further education at the Lincoln School of Commerce. She then went to work as secretary to Bennett “Abe” Martin, a prominent Lincoln businessman, civic, and political figure for many years.

She married Dale Edward Swanson June 12, 1965. Together they had three children: Sonja, Steve, and Sam. Jane stopped working to become a full-time homemaker and mother, spending many hours reading to her children and doing all sorts of activities with them. She was always involved in their education, always ready to help them with their lessons.

She was also active in the community, serving many years on the local school and water boards. As a breast cancer survivor, Jane was especially attentive and supportive to anyone she encountered who faced a similar struggle. As her children entered adulthood, Jane returned to work outside the home, working a number of jobs before landing in the newsroom of the Lincoln Journal Star. She enjoyed both the work and the people she worked with, and made many good friends in the process.

Jane was talented in many ways. She loved baking and made countless batches of candy around Christmas time for friends and family to enjoy. She loved to read, both for herself and to her children. She collected dolls and, remaining fond of pigs from her farm girl days, amassed a large collection of pig-related curios and figurines. Jane had wanted to study forensics when she was young, which turned into a lifelong interest in mysteries and whodunits both fictional and real. She was a tireless worker, a good friend, and a devoted and tolerant mother and wife.

Preceded in death by her parents, Bernard and Helen Kaspar; and her brother Alan Kaspar. Survivors include husband Dale; daughter and son-in-law Sonja and Eric Bartsch; son and daughter-in-law Steve and Michelle; son Samuel; brother Larry; sister-in-law Karen Bode; brother-in-law Gene Swanson; grandchildren Ryan, Dale, and Heather Bartsch; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, family, and friends.

A service to celebrate Jane's life will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 20, at Kuncl Funeral Home, 131 W. 12th St., Crete; fellowship at the Crete VFW following the service. Private burial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested to the Food Bank of Lincoln and the Saline County Historical Society Museum in Dorchester. Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete is in charge of arrangements. Please visit www.kunclfh.com.

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."