Lewise Blunt Swingler
September 11, 1922 – May 22, 2006
Lewise Blunt Swingler, 83, of Waco, passed away on Monday, May 22, 2006. Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, May 26, at the Lake Shore Baptist Church. Burial will be at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Herds Prairie Cemetery on Highway 2293 in Petteway, Texas. Lewise was born on September 11, 1922, in Mexia, to Fannie Bell and Lewis Blunt. She went to Mexia schools and graduated from Sam Houston State University. She married Jack Marvin Swingler in 1951. She worked as a librarian at North Waco Elementary School for 10 years. Lewise was a loving and devoted mother to her children, Nancy, Jack Jr. and Laura. She adored her children and put all of her heart and soul into caring for them and their grandchildren, William, Samantha, and Graham Schillaci of Dallas and Otto and John Henry Swingler of Austin. She wanted each one to know how much they were loved and cared for. Nothing pleased her more than to be surrounded by her family. Lewise and Jack are members of the Lake Shore Baptist Church. She leaves behind a host of close friends, neighbors, and family as well as a sister, Elizabeth Withrow of Mexia and Lewis Blunt, also of Mexia.
The Words of Life and Hope
Funeral for Lewise Swingler
Dorisanne Cooper
Friday, May 26, 2006
One of my most vivid memories of Lewise from the last few weeks is a time when I walked into her room at Regent Care to find her sitting in a chair with a cell phone ear-piece in her ear and the cell phone itself in her hand. I began to greet her and then said, “Oh, I’m sorry, are you on the phone?”
“Oh no,” she said quite cheerfully. “I’m just ready in case I get a call!”
After talking to Lewise’s children over the past few days, I now know that that call she was waiting on or maybe likely to make herself was probably with one of them, and was likely to come any time during the day, because without a doubt Lewise was the hub of communication for her family, keeping Nancy and Jack, Jr. and Laura informed of each other’s schedules. She wasn’t just a mother but a friend, talking to her daughters at least once a day on the phone, often more. And whether or not every adult child always wants to be asked to call their parents when they arrive home after leaving from a visit, it is nevertheless one of Lewise’s requests for which they are grateful for it too showed the extent of Lewise’s care throughout their lives.
And surely her children and grandchildren were the light of her life through every stage, for her greatest love was in caring and tending to her family. And what a gift—to be mothered in that way. As Nancy put it, “She thought I was a better person than I am, that I was smarter than I am.” She was the stable force for everyone, the one who wouldn’t get upset, who wouldn’t bite if you were trying to get her on your side against another, the shelter in the storm for her family and her friends.
The passage I read earlier from Proverbs 31 is on the one hand a picture that really no one could live up to. On the other hand it’s a passage much of which fit Lewise to a T. She delighted in the simplest of things, tending to others, good friendship, family dinners, grandchildren visiting. It didn’t take something elaborate for her to be happy. And yet she didn’t seem to need always for everything to be the same through her life. Maybe that was because her own stable nature allowed her to bend with new circumstances, bend but not break, one friend said. She had a remarkable quality that allowed her to be able to adjust to and enjoy every stage of her life.
And maybe that’s partly because of the many things around her that did remain constant through the years—her love for her children, her partnership with Jack through 55 years of marriage, the same neighbors that live across and down the street as were here the day she and Jack moved in almost fifty years ago, the same church where she attended faithfully over these last decades, and in more recent years her love for and delight in her grandchildren. She knew that people depended on her and so she made her life into being dependable.
Lewise was in many ways a private person, but she was a person for whom basic things just were not to be questioned—if your children needed you, you were there (no matter if they were five years old or fifty), if your husband or your friend needed a listening ear, you were there. That’s probably one reason why one word so many people have used about Lewise this week and one you’ve heard me say several times already is stable. It’s probably one reason why her children kept saying that above everything else she made them feel safe—safe and loved. Nancy even has a childhood memory of sitting on her parents’ bed eating homemade peach ice cream and thinking “I never want to grow up,” since everything about her life at home at that time felt safe and good.
Still the words stable and faithful shouldn’t give the impression that Lewise was one-dimensional. She was a very intelligent woman who loved crossword puzzles and especially loved reading, all kinds of literature, something which she lived out as the librarian at North Waco elementary school for ten years. She made quilts for all of her children and grandchildren. Jack, Jr. mentioned this week how accepting Lewise always was of all of his “long-haired hippy friends.” And more than a few people remarked on Lewise’s sense of humor. When she told the story of how she and a neighbor happened to be at the hospital giving birth at the same time, she always added that for a while they considered just staying there and continuing to let others take care of them.
I’ve already mentioned that in what is becoming more and more of a rare existence for many these days, Lewise and Jack have had many of the same neighbors for the many decades in which they have lived just down and across the street from here. When she and some of the other mothers on the street still had lots of little ones around the house they found creative ways to get together, one memorable way being the times when everyday they would each take their kids with them to one of their houses and they would work together there on 30 minutes of exercise as the kids played. And then, so as not to end things too quickly, they would stick around and take a break for coffee and donuts (likely undoing any good they had just done the 30 minutes before).
Her neighbors, many of whom were also her church friends, have stayed deeply connected all these years and had recently started a bible study together with Lewise, following in the tradition of being together, learning together and growing in their faith together. Many of them also have fond memories (and maybe a little envy) of Lewise’s green thumb and how she would plant tulips in her yard each year. We at the church got to know this side of Lewise too, not just by driving by her house to admire the yard she and Jack tended so well, but because she would always give Amaryllis bulbs to the staff here every year. It’s one of the things we knew was the first sign of Advent, coming into work to find the bulbs from Lewise on the edge of our desks.
Beyond that faithfulness which she showed to her family and friends, Lewise was one of the most faithful presences around this place, too. It wasn’t that she was the most flashy person or the one who led every ministry, but in her own quiet, consistent way she simply showed up—for years working with working Meals on Wheels, staying around with her friend Gail to wash the dishes after the drivers had left on their routes or working for the “Christmas Craft Night” every year. Our Associate Pastor, Sharlande Sledge, talks about how for years Lewise would consistently come by for the latest Commission magazine so she could take it home and pray for the missionaries listed by their birthdays on the calendar each month. And not only did she pray for those missionaries by name, she would make sure and bring the magazine to the Women of the Church meetings and make sure they knew those names as well. And her care for those she did not know extended even through today.
This week when Christiana Owusu, a former Lake Shore member from Ghana West Africa who now runs a childcare center in her home country, heard about Lewise’s death, she said, “Oh, that wonderful lady.” Over the time since Christiana began this center in her impoverished village last year Lewise has been sponsoring a child there making sure that every day that child will have something to eat. Still it wouldn’t surprise me if many of you didn’t know that specifically about Lewise. She wasn’t the type to make a big deal about things like that, she was just of a gentle, but committed mind to do them. And the truth is that many Baptist churches have been built on the faithfulness of women like Lewise, just as many families are built on the kind of gentle love that she gave as a mother and friend to her children and in her companionship and partnership with Jack.
Perhaps one of her more remarkable traits is that despite holding close what many these days might longingly consider “old fashioned” values, she found a way to carry those through all the stages of her life and many challenges as well—colon cancer and knee replacement surgery and, of course, the struggle of these last two months. Whereas so many people find the stages of life alone to be enormous stumbling blocks in the journey of life, Lewise seemed not just to adjust to each of them, but find blessings among them. That was most recently evident in these last two months. As most of you know in late March Lewise suffered a fall in her home resulting in a broken arm and a broken shoulder which left her completely unable to move or use either arm. After surgery and a brief stay in the hospital she moved to Regent Care Center where she spent the last two months in rehab away from home.
Ever the model of consistency Jack was present almost every time I visited her there, tending to her in some way, feeding her one of her meals or just sitting with her, an amazing testament to a life-long partnership and friendship. More than once I ran into one of their children as well. And while many people, especially those as active as Lewise, would likely have found these injuries a completely unbearable turn of events, Lewise seemed to take it all in such stride, still letting her humor come out now and then. One time when I was there as Jack was feeding her, he jokingly said that he was definitely racking up some points in helping her so much. Without a beat and with a big smile she simply said, “No, it’s just payback I think.”
And though certainly she had some dark days of struggle with this time, what always amazed me was the spirit with which she approached what had to be a very frustrating existence. For the most part she remained content even in that new environment, having to rely on so many others for things she had always done for herself.
Confessionally I’ll admit that sometimes as a minister (or as a friend) you think that by going to see someone you can do a little something for them, that perhaps your presence can offer a little lift. With Lewise I quickly learned that whenever I walked in the room, it was the spirit that came through her that ministered to me.
In fact, when I had the chance to take our ministerial intern, Maria, with me on a visit one afternoon, I knew exactly whom I wanted her to meet. And sure enough as we left Regent Care, Maria remarked on what a gift a person like Lewise was to be able to take a visit like that and turn it from what might have been something on a “to do” list for the day into a time in which you knew you had been blessed.
And there is no question that some of Lewise’s generosity of spirit has been passed to her children. Laura has said that despite the fact that the last two months have been a challenge for Lewise and Jack, what they have also been is a gift, because they have brought an opportunity to connect recently with her friends, with people from this church, and perhaps especially with Jack and her children who made many more trips to and from Dallas and Austin these last few weeks than they might otherwise have.
It’s a gift to know you are loved. Those in Lewise’s life knew that love from her, but it’s safe to say that these last few weeks brought that knowledge full circle to her as well—in cards and phone calls, in visits and prayers. It’s a gift that sometimes with a sudden death like this one you are left wondering about, but ironically with the journey of these last two months, it’s something Lewise got to experience many times over, being reminded of the love and care of so many of you, of Jack and his tenderness, of any extra treasured moments with her children and grandchildren.
There’s no question that Lewise was not perfect, none of us are. She had her struggles to be sure, but what a gift she was in this life, what a faith she modeled in her quiet consistent care as a wife, as a mother, as a Christian. Hers was the kind of presence that her family and friends will miss on a daily basis. It’s also the kind of presence that we understand will live on in the ways she grafted who she was into each of those who loved her.
God hears and understands us then today in all of our gratitude for this wonderful life and the length she got to live it as well as our sadness that it still seems too soon for her to be gone. Our consolation surely is this—That the same God whom she faithfully served all her life long is the God whom she now sees face to face and that the God who walked alongside her during her years of service to her family, to this church, to this neighborhood of friends and to all of those whose paths crossed hers is the one who holds her now in faithfulness and in love. Thanks be to God.