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BORN
1935
DIED
2022
Charles Swezey Obituary
He was born May 16, 1935. A native of Waynesboro, Virginia, he was a graduate of Washington & Lee University, Union Theological Seminary
(UTS) and Yale Divinity School and he earned a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt Divinity
School. He was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
and served as assistant pastor of the Lexington Presbyterian Church in
Lexington, Virginia from 1962 to 1970.
He returned to UTS in 1974, where he was the Annie Scales Rogers
Professor of Christian Ethics and served as dean of the faculty before
retiring in 2003. While at UTS, he also served on the board of Virginia Blood
Services, the IRB board at the Medical College of Virginia and an advisory
committee to the director of the National Institutes of Health. Additionally,
he is remembered for his sense of humor, love of jazz and swing music and
high scores at Ms. Pac-Man.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Mary Evelyn Swezey; three children,
Christopher S. Swezey, Margaret F. Swezey and Mary M. Swezey; three
grandchildren, Grace Bouton, Lucie Bouton and Evelyn Swezey; and two
sisters, Martha Ann Phipps and Catherine Jane Drum.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 10, on the Lawn
at Covenant Woods in Mechanicsville.
The family suggests memorial gifts to the Lexington Presbyterian Church in
Lexington, Virginia (https://www.lexpres.org/, 120 South Main Street,
Lexington, Va. 24450) and the United Way.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Charles Swezey
2 Entries
Don McKIm
April 19, 2023
It has been a joy of my life to have a friendship with Charlie Swezey. We served together on Presbyteries' Cooperative Committee--which wrote the Ordination exams for the Presbyterian Church (USA). We had to craft the questions for the Theology Exam (the sub-committee on which we served) with precision. We had to 'wordsmith' our questions; and Charlie was especially good at that. When we would work on something and come up with some wording and Charlie would be asked about some point he had been making in regard to the question--if it seemed, then, all right with him--I remember him saying, 'I have no zeal'--to make any changes. It was a distinctive phrase, which I've used many times myself--always remembering it came from Charlie! We had a fine friendship, bonding over theology--and the whole ministerial calling, especially for theological education. I miss Charlie; and am ever-grateful for our friendship!
Don McKim
July 8, 2022
Charlie and I served together for years on Presbyteries' Cooperative Committee. We enjoyed a wonderful friendship for which I am most grateful. God's sustaining grace to all his loved ones.
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