Neonila Swinzow

Neonila "Nila" Swinzow aged 104 died at her home on Monday, January 17th 2022. Nila was born in Sevastopol, Crimea on April 11th, 1917 and grew up in Kharkov, Ukraine. She met her husband George there in 1937 and a year later they were married. After the German invasion, George and Nila lived as refugees in Poland and Germany until the end of the war. When the war ended, they worked for the UN Resettlement program. In 1951 they emigrated to the USA where George attended Boston University and began teaching at the University's geology department. A chance encounter at a scientific conference got him a job offer he couldn't resist and he and Nila relocated to the Upper Valley where George worked at CRELL. Nila lost George to cancer after 62 years of marriage. Nila was a member of the Ladies Benevolent Society as well as a volunteer at APD Hospital. She was an ardent hostess, offering the best of her culinary skills to beloved relatives and guests. Her homegrown pickles and sauerkraut were famed. She liked gardening and kept chickens and pheasants at one point. She loved going to auctions and the Thetford Fair. Nila is survived by four grandchildren, three great grandchildren, and her daughter Ursula Austin. Neonila will be interred at Hillside Cemetery in a private ceremony come spring.


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