Swailes, Harold Jacob

Harold Jacob Swailes, of Belle Plaine, Iowa, passed away Tuesday, May 10, 2011, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha. Memorial services will be 10:30 a.m. today at First Congregational UCC by the Rev. Pete Hagglund. Inurnment, with military honors, will be in Oak Hill Cemetery. Hrabak Funeral Home is serving the family.

Harold is survived by his wife of 15 years, Patsy Swailes of Belle Plaine; three sons, John (Cheri) Swailes of Lusby, Md., Don (Cheryl) Swailes of Stevens Point, Wis., and Tom (Nancy) Swailes of Platteville, Wis.; daughter-in-law, Janine Swailes of Richland, Wash.; eight grandchildren, Michael Swailes of Seattle, Wash., Bonnie Swailes of Seattle, Wash., Amy Swailes of Seattle, Wash., Jean Swailes of Richland, Wash., Mollie Swailes of Minneapolis, Amanda Swailes of Platteville, Wis., Patrick Swailes of Madison, Wis., and Mary Swailes of Madison, Wis.; stepsons and stepdaughters, Ben P. Morris IV of Casper, Wyo., Eric Morris of Port Wing, Wis., Maria (Paul) Benham of Waterloo, Lisa (Neal) MacNaughton of Northfield, Minn., Laurel Morris of Chippewa Falls, Wis., and Goro (Mayra) Morris of Denver, Colo.; grandchildren, Andrew and Hannah MacNaughton of Northfield, Minn., Madison, Benjamin and Sierra Morris of Denver, Colo., Amelia and Race Benham of Waterloo, and Livia Schutz of Chippewa Falls, Wis.; his brother, Walter Swailes of Wisconsin; his sister, Esther Hotchkiss of Spokane, Wash.; and his sister, Martha Heritage of Davenport. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, George and Bonnie Swailes of Keosauqua; his first wife, Jean Newland Swailes of Belle Plaine; and sisters, Agnes Hulen of Fairfield and Evelyn Brannon of Keosauqua.

Harold Swailes was born April 26, 1921, on a farm near Rome, Iowa. He grew up much of his early life in Keosauqua, Iowa. Harold graduated from Keosauqua High School in 1938, having made many lifelong friends and attained selection to the Iowa all-state basketball team, and soon thereafter joined the U.S. Navy. He became a radio man and was station near Manila in the Philippines on Dec. 7, 1941. Harold left the Philippines a short time later via a submarine in the USA general retreat from the Philippines to Australia. He then joined and served with honor in the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet submarine forces until later in the war when he was selected to attend St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa and the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M., as part of the Navy OC commissioning program.  

Before transferring to St. Ambrose College he was severely injured by chlorine inhalation resulting from Japanese Naval depth charging of the submarine upon which he was stationed. Subsequent to this injury he was periodically inhibited and disabled, for the rest of his life actually, by damaged and scared lung tissue. The chlorine inhalation injury eventually also resulted in Harold being medically discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1944. He immediately enrolled in the University of Iowa in Iowa City to finish his B.A. degree in history. Harold pushed on with education and subsequently also graduated from the Iowa Law School in 1948, passed the bar exam, and practiced law in Iowa for the remainder of his working life.

When in Iowa Law School, Harold met and dated Jean Newland of Belle Plaine, Iowa, while she was an assistant professor of languages teaching Spanish at the University of Iowa. They were married in the fall of 1946. They were married for 45 years when Jean died of COPD in November of 1991.

Patsy Morris of Belle Plaine suffered a similar significant loss of her husband, Ben Morris, in late 1991, and the two became closer friends during a period of mourning and mutual recovery. Harold and Patsy grew to love each other, married on June 23, 1996, and have lived happily together to present. Patsy lovingly cared for Harold when his health declined, and succeeded so well in that effort that his quality of life was substantially improved and extended, so much so that he spent but 36 hours in a hospice facility before passing away yesterday.

Patsy and Harold lovingly and joyfully brought together and shared an extended family that complimented and broadened every family members' horizons and experiences. They provided one loving example of success in merging two diverse families into one. 

Harold practiced law from a private practice in Belle Plaine from 1948 until 1982. In private practice Harold pleaded cases before the Iowa District Court, the Iowa Court of Appeals, the Iowa Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court, various U.S. Federal Appeals Courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His arguments were widely respected and his cases referenced.   He was selected and appointed to be Iowa District Court judge in 1982 and served on the Iowa judicial bench until he fully retired in 2004.

Memorials may be directed to the Belle Plaine Ambulance or the Belle Plaine Fire Department.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at   under "obituaries."