Obituary: Rev. Daniel Allen Schwan

Rev. Daniel Allen Schwan

Rev. Daniel Allen Schwan

The Rev. Daniel Allen Schwan, a retired/ordained Presbyterian pastor, passed away on June 20, 2019.

He is survived by his wife of 47 years (the Rev.) Kathy Schwan; daughters Rachel and Rebekah Schwan; grandson Benjamin Schwan; brothers Jim and Bill Schwan; sisters Sandra Baltazar and Janet Newsom; and numerous nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Dan was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 31, 1946, the son of Pauline and D’Estraye Romeo Schwan, Jr. After his father left while Dan was a toddler, his mother remarried, and they moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then New Jersey, where Dan graduated from Burlington High School in 1964.

Dan enlisted in the U.S. Army Security Agency in 1965 and spent his four-year deployment in New Jersey, Korea and Japan. He married the love of his life, Kathy Stewart (Schwan), on March 4, 1972. Dan finished his B.A. in Political Science and Anthropology from Cal State Fullerton in 1972 and received an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Cal State Hayward two years later.

In 1972 Kathy and Dan moved to Contra Costa County, California, where they lived for 12 years. Dan pursued a career in small business/accounting. Dan encouraged Kathy to enter seminary in 1982. Hearing God’s call to ministry himself, he joined her in 1984, graduating from Princeton Seminary with a Masters of Divinity in 1987.

Dan was ordained on Jan. 26, 1991, as a Minister of the Word & Sacrament in the PC (USA), and his ministry career included new church development in the Santa Barbara Presbytery (Arroyo Grande), Seattle Presbytery (North Bend), co-interim in Stockton, California (a Japanese Presbyterian church), and Co-Pastor at Lemon Cove Presbyterian Church, retiring in February 2013.

Dan and Kathy adopted Rachel and Rebekah from Bulgaria in 1993 and he was an adoring and devoted father, as well as a proud grandfather. In 2013, the Schwans moved to Prescott, Arizona, where he enjoyed playing golf, flying radio-controlled planes, singing bass in a men’s barbershop group, and regaling folks with puns and wit.

A Life Celebration reception will be held at the Club at Prescott Lakes Friday, July 12 from 3-5 pm. In lieu of flowers, gifts of remembrance may be made to: Lemon Cove Community Church, POB 44348, Lemon Cove, CA, 93244. Information provided by survivors.


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