For the past 35 years, The Woodstock Independent has been publishing articles about local educators who are retiring. We ran our first one in 1990, wh…
July 2, 2025
Jennie E. Williams Swanson Dincecco, age 91, passed away on June 1, 2024.
Jennie was born on August 5, 1932 in Atlanta, Georgia to Chester Arthur and Cleo Annie (McEachern) Williams. Jennie attended Sullivan High School and graduated from Northwestern University (1954). Jennie continued her education at NIU where she received her master’s (1972) and doctorate (1976) degrees.
Richard E. Swanson first saw Jennie when she was tossing a baton at a college football game. They later married (1954), and eventually built their home in Barrington, IL where they raised their three children (Laurie, Jeff and Scott). Jennie was an educator: a co-owner and teacher at Countryside Nursery School, an elementary teacher (Skokie, Schaumburg & Barrington), an administrator (Schaumburg & Barrington), a university instructor (Barat College & NIU) and a researcher (Loyola University Hospital). Jennie and Richard (“Dick”) were married for 40 years, until his death in 1994.
After Dick’s death, Jennie continued to care for her mother who had Alzheimer’s disease which led her to write the book, Dying With Open Eyes. During this time, she built a home in Woodstock, IL and started attending the Tree of Life UU Church. It is there that she met Thomas Dincecco. They were married in 2000 for 15 years until Tom’s death. Jennie always said she was lucky to find two soulmates and that losing a soulmate was a major catastrophe. She lost both.
Jennie also lost her son, Jeffrey Richard in a plane crash in 2007. She never got over it
Jennie’s pride and joy was her loving family. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, her son, and her brother, Chester Arthur Williams, Jr. Jennie is survived by her children: Laurie (Bruce) Kiesewetter and Scott (Suzanne) Swanson; her grandchildren: Ryan (YanYan Sun) Kiesewetter, Blake (Whitney) Swanson, Jamie Kiesewetter, Kristin (Keith) Kaschub, Kelsey Swanson and Mollie Kiesewetter; her great grandchildren: Kaiden Kiesewetter, Riley Swanson Hallberg, Keitin Kaschub, Ruth Swanson, Kinzlee Kaschub, Karsyn Kaschub and Axel Swanson, and her niece: Dawn Williams.
A celebration of life service will be held at the Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Rd., McHenry, IL 60050 on Saturday, June 29th. Visitation with the family will be from 10 – 11am, and the service will begin at 11am.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent as a memorial in Jennie’s name to Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
