Raymond Pierce Swofford Jr.

Raymond Pierce Swofford, Jr.

Raymond Pierce Swofford, Jr. passed away on Wednesday, January 10, 2019, at his home in San Diego, California. He was 93 years old.

Ray (affectionately known as Razor) was born on July 31, 1925, in Lyford, Texas, to Raymond and Minnie Ray Swofford.

He moved with his parents to West Texas and attended Lubbock High School and graduated from Hale Center High School in 1942. Ray attended Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas, where he received his B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1947.

Prior to that while in high school at Hale Center, he met the love of his life, Sarah Scroggins, who also attended and graduated from Texas Tech.

They were married in 1945 at Camp Endicott, Rhode Island, where Ray received his Navy commission after graduating from Midshipman school.

After receiving his commission, Ray was sent to the Pacific Theater, arriving at Okinawa not long after V-J Day (August 19, 1945). He was assigned to the 82nd Navy Construction Battalion (aka the Seabees). Early in 1946 he was sent to CBMU 619, Guam and later to the 121st NCB, Saipan. He completed 20 years in the Navy Reserve and retired as Lieutenant Commander.

Ray and Sarah moved to Baytown, Texas, in 1947, where he worked as a civil engineer for Humble Oil and Refining Company, later Exxon, and subsequently as a district sales supervisor.

He retired from Exxon in 1981 with 34 years of service. Later he worked for the City of Baytown as assistant city engineer from 1983 to 1989.

They had three children – Pierce, Debbie and David – and were blessed with six wonderful grandchildren.

Ray and Sarah were very active in the Baytown community. They were faithful members of St. Mark’s Methodist Church. Both were members of the local American Field Service (AFS) chapter. Ray was president of the Bay Area Heritage Society from 1986-88.

He served on the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District board from 1972-79 and 1984-85. He was board president during a portion of his service on the GCCISD board. He also was elected to the Baytown City Council serving as councilman for District 2 from May 1989 to May 1993 (two terms).

Ray and Sarah were members of the Goose Creek Country Club where they enjoyed many of the club’s social activities and celebrated and shared their 50th wedding anniversary in 1995 with a large gathering of friends and family.

One of Ray’s favorite pastimes was fishing and fly fishing in particular. In the 1950s and 60s the family would make regular trips to Creede, Colorado where he’d spend hours fishing for trout along the headwaters of the Rio Grande River.

Ray and Sarah loved to travel and spent their retirement years traveling to various parts of Europe including visits with Pierce and his family, who spent many years during this period in government service in Germany, Austria, and Spain.

They also enjoyed traveling to Austin, Texas, and San Diego to visit David and Debbie. In 1999, they moved to San Diego to spend their golden years in the beautiful Southern California city.

In 2011 Ray and Sarah endowed a gift to his beloved Texas Tech University and the school’s College of Engineering (Swofford ExxonMobil Engineering Fellowship Endowment).

Ray is survived by his wife of 73 years, Sarah, son Pierce (Mary Beth), daughter Debbie Gordon (Lee) and son David (Cathy). He also is survived by six grandchildren, Charley Swofford (Lauren), Kate Swofford, Bonnie Grush (Gent), Sarah Gordon, Will Swofford, Wade Swofford and numerous cousins.

Funeral services will be held on February 4, 2019, at 11:30 am at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Swofford ExxonMobil Engineering Fellowship Endowment at Texas Tech University.

You can donate online in memory of Ray Swofford at http://donate.give2tech.com/?fid=T871C1Z. You can also donate via check. Please make checks payable to Texas Tech Foundation, Inc. Notate that funds are for the Swofford ExxonMobil Engineering Fellowship Endowment. Mail to: Texas Tech Foundation, Inc., P. O. Box 45025, Lubbock, TX 79409.

Ray loved life. He loved his wife and family, he loved Texas, and he loved his country. He and Sarah were married 73 years. What better way to express Ray’s outlook and love of life than to recall the words of one of Ray’s contemporaries, President George H. W. Bush (12 June 1924 – 30 November 2018). They may have come from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, but their values and principles were similar and typical for “the greatest generation.” Both served in the Navy, both loved the Lone Star State, both worked in the oil industry, both loved their families and served their community and country.

Here then are the words of President Bush from his inauguration speech of 1989.

My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend; a loving parent; a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood, and town better than he found it. And what do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we're no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?

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