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, 5801 Bishop Drive.
Visitation for family and friends
will be from 9 to 10 a.m. on Friday
at the OakCrest Funeral Home, 4520
Bosque. 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. In lieu of
flowers, please make donations to
the
Central Texas Senior Ministry,
PO Box 85, Waco, TX, 76703.
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.
This sermon has been taken directly
from what was delivered in worship.
Therefore the style of expression is
more of spoken English than
written.
