When Bertha Adel Swaney was born on September 10, 1891, in Kellogg, Iowa, her father, Austin, was 38 and her mother, Mary, was 31. She played on a girls basketball team. At that time Iowa had a special version of the game with six players on a side. She graduated from Grinell High School. After high school she worked at a bank and became the Bank’s cashier. She married Harry Melvin Dunn on June 2, 1915, in Grinnell, Iowa. They had three children during their marriage. She died on September 27, 1974, in Glendora, California, at the age of 83.