BRADFORD: Claire (Grudzinski) Swenson, 77, died Saturday, February 20, 2010 in the Amesbury Village Nursing Home. She was the wife of the late Stanley P. Swenson with whom she shared fifty years of marriage.
Born in Bradford on December 4, 1932, she was the daughter of the late Bruno and Helen (Pierog) Grudzinski. Claire was a lifelong resident of Bradford. She was a graduate of Haverhill High School class of 1951 and received her cosmetologist's license from the Fazio School of Cosmetology in Lawrence. She was employed as a teacher's aide for the Haverhill school system until her retirement in 1989. She had also once worked as a cosmetologist in a local beauty shop.
Claire was a member of the National Education Association.
In her spare time she enjoyed reading, knitting, and gardening. She also loved spending time listening to classical music and watching her favorite old movies. Above all she cherished the trips with her husband attending summer concerts at Tanglewood.
She is survived by her daughter Maureen Engel of Methuen, a son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Lori Swenson of Haverhill, two granddaughters, Kirsten and Alyssa Swenson, a brother and sister-in-law, Gene and Vicki Drelick of Groveland, two sisters and brothers-in-laws, Barbara and Dick Cote of Plum Island and Carol and Al Baxter of Florida and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews. She was predeceased by her brother, Bruno Grudzinski, Jr. and her son-in-law, Robert Engel.
Her funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday in the Sacred Hearts Church, S. Main St., Bradford at 9:00 A.M. Visiting hours will be held Thursday in the Linnehan-Grondin Funeral Home, 52 Salem Street, Bradford from 4 - 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. Expressions of sympathy may be made in Claire's memory to the Franciscan Mission Associates, 274-280 West Lincoln Ave., P.O. Box 598, Mount Vernon, NY 10551-0598. At the request of the family interment will be private.