Elaine Switon

Elaine C Switon, age 84, of the town of Seneca, passed away at home in the company of her adult children on July 28, 2024. Elaine was born the second child of Frank & Emma Ullrich in Beloit WI. Elaine’s family moved to Orient SD as a child where she was raised on a farm with her family. While growing up with her brother Richard she had to help with all the chores that were part of farm life. She made it clear to her children she did not like the farm life of having to milk the cow, feed the animals and hated to clean and pluck the chickens (according to her mother she also hated to clean house). She attended a very small country school in Orient with less than 100 students total, and after graduating she went to school in Rapid City SD to learn secretarial skills. While in Rapid City she met service member John J Switon Jr and fell in a love that lasted until her passing. Elaine and John moved to Milwaukee WI after they were married and started a family. She was a stay-at-home mother caring for her family cooking, baking (she was awesome), cleaning, and even sewing new clothing for her 5 children. She learned not to be squeamish or panic when her children got hurt, which happened a lot with 5 kids. She was the quiet rock that held her family together while her husband was working, and she wasn’t afraid to discipline her kids when they got out of line (even in public). She started using her secretarial skills when her children were older and her husband’s employment moved the family around, her employers missed her every time she moved on. Her last employer was the Berlin Journal where she worked long hours proof reading trying to make sure the paper didn’t have spelling and punctuation errors (before spellcheck was popular). She had a lot of practice through the years because her second son was horrible at spelling and punctuation (reading his cursive writing was like trying to decipher an ancient language it was so bad) so she would correct and type out all of his school work helping him get A’s instead of D‘s but she never changed the work. Elaine was always taking care of her family and when her mother was in need of assistance, she and John moved to Orient SD to care for her. Even though she lived in a lot of places her ultimate goal was to get back to WI so she could be closer to her children and grandkids so when her mother passed, she and John moved back to WI. Elaine was always sightseeing and traveling with John and going camping with her family even though she hated sleeping in a tent. She was very happy when they bought a motor home so she was still in the great outdoors but was able to sleep in an actual bed. Elaine loved reading, her favorite books being murder mysteries, Elaine was an Elvis fanatic and she loved watching his movies, his music, and collecting his memorabilia. She also collected lots of knickknacks and other collectibles through the years. She enjoyed watching movies and TV shows (as long as there were no snakes, she hated snakes and would cover her eyes) so she learned how to program a VCR to record the shows she liked so she could watch them when she had time. She loved to play games with her family and played a lot of cribbage with her children. She spent a lot of time watching the gameshow network always answering the trivia questions when she could with her favorite shows being The Chase and Master Minds. Her sons turned her into a rabid Packers fan so you could be sure she was watching the Packers when they were playing. Watching football with her was always an adventure because she would constantly get confused because she never really understood the rules, but she yelled and cheered when her team scored. Elaine did not drink alcohol very often and was very amused when she did have a drink because one was enough to get her buzzed and more than one really got her to let loose. She made her daughter Cathy’s husband and his family laugh a lot when they got together. She had a bright smile and was sincere when she told someone she cared for them. Preceding Elaine in death was her beloved husband, John J Switon Jr; her daughters, Susan M. Switon and Paticia M. Doll; her parents, Frank and Emma Ullrich; and her brother, Richard Ullrich. Elaine is survived by her daughter, Catherine C. Knoch and husband Kevin; son, John J. Switon III and Catherine Hartwig; son, Timothy J. Switon; daughter, Nancy A Switon and Mike Hein; son-in-law, Sylvan Doll; grandchildren, Kaylee Switon, Allison Knoch, Jason and Joseph Doll; numerous great- grandchildren, including Lacely Bullard, Mason Blader, and her latest baby, Layanna (who Elaine called Lilyanna) Guzman. She is also missed greatly by her adopted kitties Blue and Emillio, and her dogs Duke and TJ (the overly affectionate and protective mutt that she named TJ when he was brought home and who shares her birthday)

Elaine Switon

February 26, 1940 - July 29, 2024