Marcille Swires, 88 of Sterling, CO went home to be with the Lord on Monday, March 30, 2020 in Akron, CO. Viewing will be held from 10:00 a.m – 4:00 p.m., Monday, April 6 at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home. Marcille's family invites you to watch the live stream of the funeral at chaney-reager Facebook; which will be held at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 7. A public memorial service and burial will be held at a later date.

Marcille was born April 9, 1931 on a farm near Defiance, Iowa to Edwin and Ethel (Smith) Ahrenholtz. She was the oldest of 5 children. Marcille met Wilton Swires at the Omaha Bible Institute where she received her Associates Degree in Bible Studies. Marcille married Wilton on June 1, 1951 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Marcille was a Pastor's wife, working along side Wilton in several start up churches for 50 years. Her heart was in teaching others about the Lord, leading them to their Savior.

She also worked as a healthcare provider with the elderly for 46 years. She loved to sew, especially making American girl doll clothes for her granddaughters. She loved music and singing the old hymns in the church choir. She was well known for her Christmas candy, especially her divinity. She enjoyed the flowers her husband would pick for her daily. Wilton preceded her in death in 2018.

She is survived by her 4 children, Linda Harkness and husband Gene, Daniel Swires and wife Sue, Sharon Nance and husband Ken and Marcia Miller and husband Kurt, 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Contributions may be made in Marcille's name to Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Logan Street, Sterling, CO 80751.

Memorable Pansies, March 31, 2020 by Dan Swires

Sunday, December 15th was a big day for Mom with two Christmas services and a family meal. It ended up being the last time she was able to go see family or attend church. Her health took a nosedive that night and she ended up basically living in her chair after that.
Growing up, I remember Dad referring to something as a "pansy" if it was weak or not depend-able. The first time I recall recognizing a pansy was after we moved to Colorado and I started growing them. If you understand how and when to grow them, they are actually very hardy. We plant them outdoors in late March and they will pop their heads through our heavy April snow and tell us thanks for the moisture by sprouting even more heads. We plant the pansy seeds in the greenhouse in mid-December and pinch off their first flowers in late February in order to get the big display of flowers in late March when its time to plant them outside. In their later years, Dad would go outside every morning during flower season and pick a flower or two, put them in a vase and bring them to Mom. One of her favorite flowers this time of the year was a pansy, especially the yellow ones with a dark face. One spring I gave them some pansies without the face and learned that they were "pretty, but defective", so we needed to replace them.

Last Friday I checked on our pansy crop and decided it was pansy planting time. Some flats were loaded into SUV's and dropped off in front of family and friends' houses. By Sunday noon, thank you posts and pictures began to arrive on the cellphone. Some friends and neighbors of those people asked if they could buy some, and I was torn. We still had more flats than we needed, but I wasn't sure I wanted to sell them. Sunday afternoon I planted some pansies at our house and my friend, Pastor Ron, kept coming to mind, so I said a quick prayer for him. Monday morning Pastor Ron was on my mind again, so I shot him an email and offered some pansies if he would come and get them. He responded almost immediately and we agreed that 2 PM on Monday he would come over and we kept our 6-foot spacing as he selected some pansies.
Turns out that Ron was at Home Depot on Sunday afternoon allowing himself to be tempted by the pansies that they had for sale. His wife reminded him that pansies did not fit their budget in this uncertain time, so they would need to go without this year. Now we know that God prompted me to give him the pansies that he and his wife planted Monday afternoon.

There was a shift change at Mom's nursing facility at 2 PM on Monday. One of the new caretakers went to take care of Mom as she was in bad shape. Shortly before 4 PM, another worker joined her and decided to play some hymns on her I Phone. Mom got a smile on her face and settled down as soon as they started playing the hymns. Mom passed away during that second hymn, which was "The Old Rugged Cross". The worker said the first hymn was something about a garden, which turned out to be "In the Garden". Wednesday, March 11th was the last time my three sisters were able to see Mom as they closed the Home to visitors after that, and she told them then that she wanted "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden" to be sung at her funeral.

The Coronavirus panic prevented us from being with Mom when she passed away, but God sent two angels as workers who stepped in for us. Meanwhile, Ron was out planting pansies and praising God for His blessings. I like to think that now both Mom and Dad are in Heaven walking around and admiring pansies that are much better than the ones that we have down here and Dad doesn't have dementia and Mom can walk again. We love and miss you both.