Roberta D. Swanberg

Roberta D. "Bobbi" Swanberg, age 85, of Wagner, SD, passed away peacefully at home on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012.

Memorial services were held on Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, at 10 a.m. at St. John Catholic Church in Wagner.

Interment was in St. Mary's Cemetery in Spencer.

Crosby-Jaeger Funeral Home in Wagner, SD, was in charge of arrangements.

Roberta D. "Bobbi" Swanberg was born on April 16, 1927, at Lynch, the daughter of Thomas and Hildegard (Wiebelhaus) Donlin. She graduated from St. Mary's Catholic High School in O'Neill. Roberta married Donald C. Swanberg on Dec. 19, 1947, at St. John Cathedral in Omaha.

She worked at Omaha Cold Storage in Winner, SD, for a year and then they moved to Omaha where she went to bookkeeping school and worked at Standard Oil. Don was transferred to New York and the move brought Roberta to work at the Rockefeller Center. She later worked for a doctor in the mornings and spent her afternoons working for the Venezuelan Consulate at the United Nations for several years.

Roberta and Donald started their own poultry broker business and owned and operated it for many years. They bought a farm in upstate New York, near Stanfordville, where she bred, raised and exhibited Arabian horses, purebred Corriedalies sheep and purebred guard dogs. She also bred and exhibited Hungarian guard dogs, known as Komondors; Briards, a French war dog and German Shepherds. She was also a provisional judge for shows while in New York.

She was a member of the German Shepherd Dog Club of American, the Hudson Valley German Shepherd Dog Club, Middle Atlantic States Komondor Club, Komondor Club of America, Briard Club of America and the Seeing Eye Foundation.

Roberta and Don returned to the Omaha area and Don passed away on July 13, 1997. Roberta moved to Wagner in 2004.

She will be remembered for her love of animals, showing her dogs and endurance riding. She also enjoyed reading about history and biographies.

Thankful for having shared her life are her brother, Terry Donlin of Seattle, WA; two sisters, Cathy Patten of Venice, FL, and Constance Denniston of Fairway, KS; sister-in-law, Lorella Donlin of Rapid City, SD; and several nieces and nephews.

Roberta was preceded in death by her husband, Don; brother, Tom; sister, Bernadette Donlin; sister-in-law, Darlene Donlin and two brothers-in-law, Keith Denniston and Jim Patten.