Norma R. Swift

PITTSFORD—Norma Rowell Swift, 89, died early Saturday, Dec. 17, 2005 at Rutland Regional Medical Center, following a brief illness.

She was born July 9, 1916 in South Royalton, the daughter of Glenn Moses Rowell and Reta Abbie (Abbott) Rowell. She received her elementary and secondary education in South Royalton. After graduating from Castleton Normal School, she was a public school teacher in the communities of Barnard, Pompanoosuc, and Pittsfield. For five seasons, she served as a camp counselor at YMCA Camp Billings on Lake Fairlee, and she also was employed for a time as a nurse’s aide at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington.

Following her marriage to Rodney R. Swift May 9, 1948 in Burlington, they settled in Pittsford, later moving in 1949 to the Plains Road home where she continued to live following the death of her husband in 1995. She was instrumental in organizing a town-financed Red Cross swimming program for Pittsford children in the 1960s which used Branbury Beach on Lake Dunmore prior to the construction of the Pittsford Recreation Area. She was a member of the Pittsford Congregational Church (UCC) for more than 40 years.

Survivors include her sister, Drucilla Schneiderheinze of Pittsford; her daughter, Gayle R. Swift of Pittsford; two sons: David R. Swift and his wife Elizabeth, of Pittsford, and Paul R. Swift and his wife Susan, of the Bronx, N.Y.; two grandsons: Gabriel D. Swift of Pittsford and Peter S. Swift of the Bronx, N.Y.; granddaughters Abigail E. Swift of Pittsford, and Amanda P. Swift and Crystal Swift of Bronx, N.Y.; several cousins, and Gayle’s adopted son, Scott Chandler, who also lives in Pittsford with his wife, Tara and daughter, Skylee.

There will be no calling hours. A springtime funeral will be scheduled, probably in May, with burial to follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Pittsford. Arrangements are under the direction of the Barnard Funeral Home in Pittsford.

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