Rex Lee Swan

Rex Lee Swan, our sweet Papa, went home to be with Jesus on June 2, 2023 after a courageous battle with cancer. At 87 years old, heaven gained the finest deputy in all the land. Rex rode with the likes of Wyatt Earp, “Rooster” Cogburn and Roy Rogers. Rex and Marshall Matt Dillon worked tirelessly to prevent lawlessness in Dodge City, he rode shotgun with Jim Hardie to battle bad guys trying to steal the gold off the Wells Fargo stagecoach and joined forces with Ben Cartwright, Adam, Little Joe and Hoss to fend off trouble at the Ponderosa. His dry sense of humor, quick wit and well, ok, hint of sarcasm delighted everyone around him and always brought the desired chuckle or eye roll. Rex could fix or build anything – a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades” and master of none was his calling card. In addition to keeping the peace on the frontiers of the old West, Rex’s most recent hobbies included spoiling his trusty sidekick, Lucy, watching re-runs of Archie Bunker in All in the Family, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, every episode of Saturday Night Live, reliving every battle of WWII on the History Channel and shamelessly flirting with his hospice nurses.



Rex was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma as the only child of Winfred Lee Swan and Anna Harleson on October 8, 1935. He fished every creek and climbed every tree with his cousins and friends in his hometown of Schulter, Oklahoma. Hot summers would find him hitchhiking to the wheat fields of northern Oklahoma and Kansas to earn money during the harvest. Rex graduated from Schulter High School in the top eighth of his class – then he would wink and tell you that there were only eight students in his graduating class. He even promoted himself to class valedictorian at the 2022 annual Schulter all-school reunion, as he was the last remaining classmate. He joined the Air Force soon after graduation and served in Korea until an honorable discharge in 1957.



Rex married his childhood sweetheart and love of his life Mary Terrill in the spring of 1957 and their romance would span fifty-four years and three children. He became a pipefitter, like his father but was soon recruited by IBM to become a hardware engineer, using skills gained from his military career. Rex moved his wife and young family from Oklahoma to Marquette, Michigan where he spent his first years working with IBM. He was transferred to a position in Texas as a customer engineer in 1962, supporting many of IBM’s largest customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and would retire after 36 years of services. Rex worked many long hours and made lifelong friends with his coworkers and was very proud of their collective contributions to the ‘computer age’ from the sixties, seventies and eighties.



Rex and Mary’s family grew to include three children, Lee Ann, Ronald and Dean Swan. He enjoyed camping with his young family and meeting up with friends and family at campgrounds across Texas and Oklahoma. He would take the kids and their friends for rides on his prized possession, his boat “Sweet Poverty as well as riding dirt bikes with his sons having all sorts of scrapes (literally!} and adventures. Rex loved to tinker on cars and tear apart and rebuild anything – no matter the challenge. He purchased a “fixer upper” in Hurst where he learned how to DIY everything from a new roof to resurfacing a swimming pool – creating a home where he and Mary enjoyed entertaining family and friends for many years.



Upon retirement, Rex and Mary traveled in their RV across the southern states from Florida to California and all points in between enjoying what they called “the good life”, finally settling in Weatherford for the past twenty four years. Rex was preceded in death by his loving wife, Mary (2011), his beloved son Ronald Rex Sr (2015) and both his parents. Rex is survived by his daughter Lee Ann Swan of Weatherford, his son, Dean Swan of Azle, Texas and grandchildren Ronald Rex Swan Jr and his wife Nikki of Fort Worth, grandson David Swan of Fort Worth, Kayla Swan of Kansas and Megan Fletcher and her husband Heath of Killeen, Texas. He was adored by his great grandchildren, Autumn and Aniston Swan of Fort Worth and Mariah and Damian Fletcher of Killeen. He will be missed by his family, friends and countless cousins, nieces, nephews.



A celebration of his life will be held at 11:00am on Tuesday, June 20th at the Lucas Funeral Home (1321 Precinct Line Road) in Hurst Texas; visitation with family at 10:30. He will be honored at 2:00 at the Dallas Fort Worth National cemetery and laid to rest with his wife, Mary. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local hospice organization in honor of Rex’s memory. Donations can also be made to Lay Witnesses for Christ in Rex’s honor.



His ‘dad jokes’ will remain in our hearts forever.