THE PARIS NEWS, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER, 22, 2013, PAGE A3 - Marjorie Ruth Fischer Swafford went to meet her Lord on Sept. 18, 2013, surrounded by her loving family.
Starrett Funeral Home will conduct graveside rites at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, in the Resthaven Memory Gardens in Oklahoma City.
The family will receive friends from 3-4 p.m. on Sunday at the funeral home.
Marjorie was born in Kingfisher, Okla., to Frank X. Fischer and Anna Margaret Fischer on July 7, 1922.
Following high school graduation, she worked for the Defense Department at Tinker Field in Oklahoma City during WWII as a civilian on the homefront. After her marriage to Bill Swafford on Sept. 20, 1946, in Oklahoma City, she became a homemaker for many years, raising two daughters. She was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader and an active classroom mother. In later years, she worked at Unarco in the main office in downtown Oklahoma City.
Marjorie loved working with her hands. She was an excellent seamstress and enjoyed crocheting. She worked with all kinds of crafts and loved to paint. But her greatest joy was serving her Lord. She attended Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Oklahoma City for 80 years. She was a Sunday School teacher, a nursery worker, a clothes closet volunteer, a member of the Women's Missionary Union, director of outreach to shut ins, and a literacy volunteer.
In 2004, she and Bill moved to Paris to be near a daughter. East Paris Baptist Church has been her spiritual home since then.
Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents, Frank X. Fischer and Anna Margaret Fischer; brother, Frank J. Fischer; sister, Doris J. Bishop; and grandson, Bradley Winstead.
She is survived by her husband of 67 years, William F. Swafford; daughter, Sharon and husband, Don Winstead of Winchester, Va.; daughter, Barbara and husband, Ray Dunlap of Paris; grandchildren, Joel Winstead of Reston, Va.; Margaret Sullivan and husband, Scott of Kansas City, Mo; Laura Johnson and husband, Bryant of Herndon, Va.; great-grandchildren, Savannah and Jackson Sullivan and Carter and Luke Johnson; a brother, Dwayne W. Fischer and wife, Dorla of Oklahoma City; many loving nieces and nephews; and a host of friends.
In her last days, Marjorie told her family that birth was the time to cry because we are so happy, and death is the time for laughter because we are rejoicing that a Christian is going to a better place. Come rejoice with us during these times of celebration of Marjorie's life.