Oura Lee Swart was born on June, 14 1936, in the family home on the
Northwest Kansas wheat and cattle farm as the 13th of 14 children born
to his parents, George Martin Swart and Zula May Gilkerson Swart. He
died on January 17, 2021, in Fort Payne, Alabama.
Lee's early days were spent at the family farm in Gove County, North
Western Kansas, where he was born and during the winters of 1937- 1940
at the Swart family's winter home located in a citrus grove near Donna,
Hidalgo County, Texas. Unlike some of his older brothers and sisters Lee
did not have to attend a one room country school, rather he received
his grade and high school education at the Grinnell Rural School System.
He graduated as the top student from his grade school and served as
Class President three out of four high school years graduating in 1954.
Following high school he chose to attend Kansas State College (now
Kansas State University) for three years and then transferred to the
University of Kansas for the final two years where he received a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration-Accounting. At KU, on the
day of graduation he was also commissioned as a second lieutenant in
the United States Army Ordnance Corps and was privileged to have his
mother pin on his second lieutenant gold bars after being sworn in the
Army.
Not being immediately required to report in the Army for duty Lee chose
employment with Ford Motor Company in Kansas City as a Cost Accountant.
After a short stint with Ford he was ordered into active duty with
United States Army Ordnance Corps at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland,
where he began what was to become a full twenty year career in the
Regular Army. His first army career assignment was with the 9' Ordnance
Company in Western Germany, where he worked for three years with the
U.S. Army's nuclear weapons and missile depot (1960-1963). Following
this interesting assignment, Lee was assigned to the V Armored Division
at Fort Hood, Texas (1963-1964), where he served as the battalion
adjutant and commander of companies B and D of the 124' Maintenance
Battalion, however, within two years he was transferred to duty with the
Military Assistance Command Vietnam serving as the Ordnance Advisor to
the Vietnamese 7th Infantry Division (1964-1965), located at MyTho in
the South Vietnamese Delta.
After a short stint at the Ordnance School attending the Ordnance
Officer Career Course (1966) Lee was transferred to Tucson, Arizona,
where he served as an Assistant Professor in the R.O.T.C. Department at
the University of Arizona (1966-1969). After working with the cadets for
three years he was transferred to the 5' U. S. Army Headquarters
located at Fort Sheridan north of Chicago, Illinois, where he worked
with the development of the new Army's Anti-ballistic Defense System.
This interesting assignment was followed by another year assignment in
South Vietnam at the Inventory Control System Vietnam located at Long
Bin, South Vietnam, working to keep the supplies moving for all of the
U.S. Armed Forces, Australian Forces and Korean Forces (1969-1970),
located in the Theater. Then came the assignment to the Army's Missile
and Munitions School located at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, (1972-1974)
serving as the Director of Supply and later Maintenance Directorate
Another good assignment came with a return to the U. S. Army, Europe
located at Miesau, West Germany, with an assignment to command the 9'
Ordnance Company and later to be the Executive Officer and Deputy
Commander of the 72"d Ordnance Battalion (1974-1977) again storing and
maintaining the U. S. Army's stockpile of nuclear weapons arriving in or
departing the European Theatre. Lee lived in a large apartment at
Hutschenhausenerstrasse 17, in Miesau, about a mile from his office.
This was a great place to entertain fellow officers and their spouses.
On returning to the states in 1974 he was assigned to the 548th Supply
& Support Battalion located at Fort McClellan, Alabama, where Lee
served his last assignment in the U.S. Army. On October 1, 1979, after
serving 20 Years, one month and one day Lee retired as a Major from the
U. S. Army in a ceremony presided over by Major General Mary Elizabeth
Clarke, the Commanding General of Fort McClellan and only, the very
first, female officer to ever be promoted to Major General. Lee chose to
be free to enjoy his retirement. Now after forty some years into his
retirement Lee has enjoyed years of travel here in the states and in
Europe. A trip for a long visit with family and friends in Kansas, many
long tourist type trips in the U.S. and in Europe were common traveling
with his special friend, Rod Hildreth. These trips enabled Lee to
complete his visits to each of the fifty states and 36 foreign
countries.
Life has been good; and the wheat and com crops have been bountiful. On
visits to Oakley in Northwestern Kansas, a visit to his property was
always an enjoyment with his grand-nephew Randy Swart driving him from
one end of his family holdings to the other in his pickup.
Lee joined a few special organizations starting with his lifelong
membership in the Grinnell United Methodist Church where he was baptized
as an infant and confirmed while in Grade School. Other organizations
he joined in was the Grinnell Masonic Lodge now the Oakley Masonic Lodge
#253 joining in 1959 over sixty years ago, the Valley of Leavenworth,
Kansas, Scottish Rite 32 degree and the Isis Masonic Shrine Temple,
Salina, Kansas. Lee also was a member of the Eastern Star, Radiant
Chapter #229, Atwood, Kansas. Lee was active with the National Society
of the Sons of the American Revolution where he served on many
committees and as Vice President General and National Trustee and the
Alabama State Society of the SAR where he served on many committees and
as President. He greatly assisted in forming of the Little River
Chapter, SAR, in 1989, and was to serve as chairman of many committees
and as chapter president for Little River Chapter. In addition he was a
member of the National Society of the Sons of the Revolution and, was
the recipient of the "Minuteman" Award for his long and active
involvement in the National Society of the SAR. He was also a member of
the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (SMOTJ) and as a
member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. While living
atop Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne, Alabama, he became a member of
the Fort Payne First Baptist Church.
Lee is survived by his older sister, Ethel Elizabeth Swart Smoots of Gig
Harbor, Washington, and his older brother, Lloyd Robert Swart of
Oakley, Kansas, and sisters-in-law Norma Lee Swart and Geraldine
Marguerite Lintel Swart and brother-in-law Allan Louis Burns along with a
multitude of nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews and great
grand nieces and nephews along with one great great grandniece. A
special friend and partner of over forty years, Rod Hildreth, also
survives.
Lee was preceded by his parents, George Martin Swart (1888-1973) and
Zula May Gilkerson Swart (1893-1969), five brothers, Martin Wilbert
Swart (Mary Alma Hoover & Mayetta Bell Evans Decker), Alfred L Swart
(Barbara Eloise Yale & Janice Edith Lessing Nelson), 1LT Ernest
Gilbert Swart, Don Melvin Swart, John Marvin Swart and six sisters,
Captain Dorothy Lucile Swart Tatum (John Merle Tatum), Georgia May
Swart, Jessie Lou Swart Park (Aubrey Glen "Cub" Park), Bettie Jean Swart
Burns, Gladys Louise Swart Rowley (Carl Robert Rowley), Carol Ann
Swart, sister-in-law, Betty Jane Durham Swart and bother-in-law, Roy
Edward Smoots.
Services were held on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at the First Baptist
Church, Fort Payne, Alabama, with the Reverend Doctor Pat McFadden, the
Pastor Doctor Marshall Henderson, and the Reverend Doctor Bart Hildreth
conducting. Wilson Funeral Home and Crematory of Fort Payne, Alabama was
in charge of arrangements. Online guestbook: www.wilsonfhinc.com
At the conclusion of these services, Lee's remains were transferred to
Oakley, Kansas, where a private family service was held at 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, January 23, 2021, at the Oakley United Methodist Church, with
burial in his family plot in the Oakley City Cemetery. Baalmann
Mortuary, Oakley handled these services. www.baalmannmortuary.com