Henry was born June 21, 1939 to Nancy Mae Jenkins Swindle and Benjamin Sampson (Samp) Swindle, the last of four children. He was born at home, in a log house located in an area of north Tuscaloosa County, called Piney Woods. He grew up in in a rural setting but moved to Holt and attended Holt High School where met and married his lifetime sweetheart Mary Frances Clifton Swindle in 1957.
They started married life traveling, as Henry joined the US Navy Submarine Service. Over the next four years they lived in San Diego, Charleston and Key West. He was honorably discharged in October 1961 and they returned to Tuscaloosa to start a family.
Over the next seven years they moved to several jobs across the south as he built a career in the Cable Television industry and they landed in Biloxi, MS in 1968. With two sons and a wife to provide for life was busy.
Henry was also an accomplished outdoorsman and loved to fish and camp. Whether it was gig fishing for flounder on the sandbars by lantern light (Floundering), motoring up the Tchoutacabaouffa River to stalk bass or bluegill, he was always ready to wet a hook. As his sons grew up enjoying the outdoors, it wasn’t a surprise when they got involved in the Boy Scouts and before long the whole family was too. Mary was a Den Leader and Henry was Committee Chairman for Troop 212. His love for things technical and penchant for getting stuff done also pulled him into the American Red Cross where he was an instructor for CPR and advanced first aid. He organized and staffed the First Aid Hut at Camp Wilkes during summer camp and also served as Red Cross Disaster Coordinator for Harrison County, MS for several years. He was also active with the Chamber of Commerce fireworks committee, helping put on the civic displays every July, and taking his sons along to help “shoot the big ones”.
The Mississippi adventure closed in 1978 when work took the family to Richlands, VA, trading the semi-tropical gulf coast for a home on a mountain where it started snowing in October and you could see five miles out the front windows on most days. It was a beautiful place to live for the next 4 years until work again pulled them away, this time settling in Pleasant Grove, AL, in 1981, for good.
With Hank off at college and Chuck leading the drumline for PG High School, Band Booster duty took up many Friday nights. And in 1985, the family started attending Garywood Assembly of God where Mary soon joined the staff as a church secretary and Henry (now a Spirit –Filled Christian) took on various roles as a board member, volunteer with Teen Challenge, the Sonshine Room, and the prison outreach ministry.
Henry retired from active employment in 1995 and church and grandkids became a focus of life. They regularly traveled to the coast or the mountains for family trips and vacations, always full of adventure and Mary’s amazing cooking.
They lived independently until 2018 when Mary fell to an extended illness and Henry moved to assisted living. The love of his life, Mary passed away Feb 3rd, 2019. Henry spent the last year of his life ignoring nurses and caregivers whenever he felt like it (just to remind them who was in charge) and seeking the Lord in prayer for his family and friends at assisted living.
After a life of service and accomplishment, he was ready to “Go be with Jesus and My Sweetheart”. He quietly did that last Wednesday afternoon.
Henry is preceded in death by his parents as well as brother Pete Swindle and sisters Ethel Oakley and Hazel Manley. He is survived by his sons, Chuck Swindle (wife Ruth), Hank Swindle (wife Belinda), Grandchildren, Rachael Blakley (Husband Andrew), Matthew Swindle, Leanne Drew (and Jimmy), Christopher Swindle, Kristina Swindle, and Great Grand Children, Samantha Drew, Clinton Drew, Caroline Blakley, Caleb Blakley, And his Aunt Mrs. Bobbie Nell Swindle (Age 86) and a host of loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
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