Barbara Swetman Meyer

Barbara Swetman was born in Rowlands, Mississippi the 26th of December, 1933. Barbara graduated with honors with a degree in accounting from Louisiana State University in 1955. Barbara married the love of her life, Randall Meyer of Mt. Union, Iowa, the 29th of November, 1958. Barbara met Randall on a blind date during his tenure at Exxon’s Baton Rouge Refinery, where she eventually worked as a secretary until they wed. She was proud to tell everyone that they were married for “54 years and 8 days,” until his death in 2012. Together they raised and nurtured a loving family of three children, Warren, Gretchen and Kirsten.

In her free time in her younger years, she loved to play bridge and tennis with her close friends, play the piano and create needlepoint works of art. She was also a skilled fly fisherwoman and skeet shooter. She dedicated herself to supporting Randall’s career and was the perfect lighthearted and outspoken balance to his serious business persona. But Barbara’s ultimate focus was caring for her children. She and Randall were passionate about education and made sure that their children had access to and remained motivated to perform at their highest levels from kindergarten through graduate school.

While Barbara excelled as a wife and mother, she found her true calling with the birth of the first of her five grandchildren in 1994. Her grandchildren were the world to her, as she was to them. She took the time to recognize, appreciate and celebrate the unique personalities of each of her grandchildren and, by doing so, developed remarkably close and unshakeable bonds with each child. Barbara’s grandchildren loved her limitlessly and unconditionally and they will profoundly miss their “crazy redneck Grandma!”

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Emory Goss Swetman and Ruby Mae Swetman Stringer; brothers, James Robert and Rod Swetman; and sister, Anelle Swetman Jones.

She is survived by her children, Warren Meyer and his wife, Kate, of Phoenix, AZ, Gretchen Meyer Manias and her husband, Bill, of Houston, TX, and Kirsten Meyer Wrinkle and her husband, Geoff of Charlotte, NC; and grandchildren Nicholas and Amelia Meyer of Phoenix, Andrew and Hayden Manias of Houston, and Alex Wrinkle of Charlotte. Barbara’s family wishes to acknowledge and express their sincere gratitude for the love and friendship extended to Barbara by her dear friends and selfless caretakers, Donita, Bunny, Jack, Helen, Janet and Carolyn.

Those honored to serve as honorary pallbearers are her five grandchildren.

A memorial service is to be conducted at four o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 27th of June in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, memorial contributions may be directed to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS, 66675.

Barbara Meyer was born in rural Mississippi during the Great Depression to meager beginnings, but was a bright child and motivated not only to pursue her education at the college level but also to perform at the highest level. She approached every aspect of her life with a sharp wit and irreverent sense of humor and was a truly authentic individual. Barbara was loving by nature and was generous in heart and spirit. She never knew a stranger and welcomed everyone into her home as their “grandma.” In her own words, Barbara declared, “I have lived a great life and would like to be remembered with smiles rather than tears. I would also like to quote my grandson, Andrew, as I write my own epitaph – ‘You don’t have to be right, Grandma, you’re adorable.’”