Malcolm Aden Swift

"EARTH HAS NO SORROW THAT HEAVEN CANNOT HEAL."

This was my grandfather. Most records I have seen, record his year of birth as 1887, so the year on the headstone may be off by a year. We only have a few pictures of him now. I know he had red hair because I do, and my mother always said I inherited it from her dad. I was absolutely astounded to find this grave. He was the son of Charles Banks Swift and Martha E. Wise Dye (she was a widow with a young son when she married Charles). Aden's real first name was Malcolm, but he always went by his middle name, Aden. We have been able to trace his "Swift" family line definitely back to Reverend William Swift who settled in Hanover County, Virginia in 1728. Aden was married to Velma (Devall) Swift with whom he had six children: Josephine Louise Swift Smith (1912-1985), a stillborn daughter Eunice (1915), Maxine Swift Entwistle (1916-1989), Charles Aden Swift 1918-1980), EmmaJean Swift (1920-1980?) and Robert Devall Swift (1922-2003).

   Aden was a Mason and a bank president in Galena until he became too ill to work.  He contracted tuberculosis and was advised to take a rest cure to Arizona for a year or two, but told the doctor he couldn't leave Velma and the kids.  Thus, he kept the secret until it was too late.  When she found out he was dying, Velma told him, "Aden, we could have made do without you for a year or two; now we'll have to live without you forever."  He died too young, leaving a 34 year old widow with 5 children.  Velma never remarried.  She moved to Oklahoma in search of jobs, working to keep her family together, but ended up sending the youngest four to the Masonic Home in St. Louis.  She died in 1960 and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City, but I like to think of her happily reunited with the husband she loved so much.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 15 2017, 0:19:34 UTC