Roland “Ronnie” Dale Swank was born on July 7, 1929 in Akron, Ohio, the son of George W. Swank and Margaret M. Laschinsky Swank. George was a native of Ohio and was a longtime employee of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron. Margaret was a native of Pennsylvania.
Ronnie attended schools in Akron and graduated from Ellet High School in 1947. After graduation, he set off for California to seek fame and fortune but after one year, he returned to Akron to attend Akron University. In 1950, went to an employment bureau to apply for a job. He ended up being hired by the Kroger Company and he began a 38-year career as one of the most successful Kroger managers in northeast Ohio.
Early in his time with Kroger, he met Norma Lorraine Adams, a cashier, and they were married on September 12, 1954 in Akron, Ohio. Norma was born on July 6, 1934 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the daughter of James “Jim” Floyd Adams and Maggie Belle Hargroves Adams. Jim was a native of Trigg County and had been a farmer in Trigg County before moving to Akron in 1951 where he worked for 15 years with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Jim was a descendant of Perry Thomas. Maggie was also a native of Trigg County and had moved to Akron with her husband in 1951. Norma had graduated from Trigg County High School in the class of 1952 before she moved with her family to Ohio.
Norma had ten siblings. They were Virginia Loyce Adams, born in 1921 and married Lillard Brown and then married Robert Edward Martin; Mallie Eliane Adams, born in 1923 and married James Franklin Morris; Clara Helen Adams, born in 1925 and married William Doy Carr, Jr.; Jimmie Luree Adams, born in 1927 and married Frank Arthur Woody; Bennie Gene Adams, born in 1930 and married Joan Mae Thomas; Mary Earl Adams, born in 1931 and married Robert Grove Marmaduke; Bobby James Adams, born in 1936 and married Shirley Jean Little and then married Patricia Ann Stover; Carolyn Gray Adams, born in 1940 and married Robert Donald Harrison; Patricia Ann Adams, born in 1943 and married James Richard Ryan and then married Robert Charles Oberbillig; and Billy Dale Adams, born in 1944 and married Sandra Gail Sleeth.
Ronnie and Norma while living in Akron liked to visit family and friends in Cadiz and Trigg County. They were in regular attendance for over a 60-year period of the Trigg County High’s annual alumni gathering. Ronnie attended so many of these gatherings that the alumni association considered granting him honorary alumnus status even though Norma was the TCH alumni. Cadiz became his adopted second home and he was a regular attendee at Cadiz Baptist and Donaldson Creek Baptist Churches where Norma had been a member. They named their oldest son Alan Glen and daughter Alison Ann after Melissa Ann and Karle Glenn, the long-time organist at the Cadiz Baptist Church and the owner of Glenn's store where Norma worked as a teenager.
Ronnie died on December 30, 2021 in Akron and is buried in Akron's East Liberty Cemetery.
LINEAGE: (Roland Dale Swank was the husband of Norma Lorraine Adams. Norma was the daughter of James Floyd and Maggie Belle Hargroves Adams and the granddaughter of John Quincy and Suphronia Adeline Williams Adams. John was the second child of John Wylie and Martha Jane Coleman Adams. Martha was the second child of Alfred Boyd and Alpha Thomas Coleman. Alpha was the second child of Perry and Elizabeth Josephine Bridges Thomas. Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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