Here you will find anecdotes and photos of and about Pat Swann.
Patricia "Pat" Swann, 56 of Nashville, passed away at 7:18 a.m. on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009, at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis of complications due to pneumonia. Her cremains were spread in the deep Pacific Ocean waters off Hawaii by her brother Richard, a Hawaii resident.
Pat was born on April 4, 1953 at the Naval Air Station in Millington, Texas, the daughter of George and Marilyn Mallory Swann.
Although never married, Pat was my girlfriend for just over seven years, the longest anyone ever lasted, I was told with only the hint of a suggestion that I was on probation. Pat was a very special person...I suppose everyone feels that way about the passing of someone close to them. Nevertheless, in the interests of preserving some of what made her special, I am recording here a collection of anecdotes and stories from our time together. I will be adding to it from time to time. Others are invited to email me any contributions they would like to add.
Pat and I attended various events in the area where I would often gather material for my news broadcasts at WNSV-FM, Nashville. We got a nice photo at the annual Popeye Picnic which you'll find on this page. There were other pictures of Pat aboard the Nina, a replica of Colmbus' flagship, docked in Alton, and photos of us aboard a World War II LST that was part of the D-Day invasion fleet and was visiting St Louis. There were plenty from the Missouri Botanical gardens, which Pat liked a lot and from the St Louis Zoo, favoriite visiting places. (Pat was fond of bears and penguins.)
We went to Florida our first year together when I had an opportunity to get free hotel rooms. We drove down as far as Georgia the first day, then completed the trip the next day. IOn Florida, we visited Orlando (Disney World, Universal, medieval times theme restaurant, Flying Tigers Warbird Restoration Museum, day-trip to Silver Springs), spent one day at Kennedy Space Center, ending at Daytona Beach (ghost tour, Ponce de Leon lighthouse, Marine Research Center where they rescue sea turtles). Great time. We took another road trip a year or so latetr to Nashville, Tennessee ("the other Nashville") where we took the ghost tour in the rain and because of the next day's weather, went north to Mammoth Cave rather than back into flooded Nashville, then on home.
We also liked to attend renaissance fairs, of which there are not many in the Southern Illinois area. We acquired period clothing. I bought my Viking-inspired shirt with the lace-up V-neck and trousers with drawstring but Pat actually made her own dress after carefully examining available patterns though she found the result unpleasantly warm. We really only had a few occasions to wear them. One time was at a Halloween trivia contest where we won the best costume award and a free pizza in a town we would never visit for pizza. We had no interest in participating in the faires to the extent of others who were deeply involved, but we felt our costumes put us a little closer to things and certainly contributed to the ambiance.
As birthday presents we regularly presented each other with a ghost experience. On her birthday our first year together, we took an evening ghost tour of Daytona Beach, Florida. She was quite amused when my magazine story (in Fate Magazine) about the haunted Ponce de Leon Lighthouse just south of the city included a photo which described her in the caption as my wife.
We also took ghost walks in Nashville, Tennessee, attended the annual dinners preceding ghost haunts of the Original Springs Hotel in Okawville, IL, took walking tours of Alton, IL and Lebanon, IL, and attended several summer ghost conferences held in Decatur, IL, by the American Ghost Society, which regularly became my annual birthday present to her. Last year, I won the grand prize, a used coffin which I declined since it had to be removed that day, but made sure I got a picture with it. This summer, Pat won two shadow-box-type framed mountings with a rock glued in each and a certificate of authenticity for background, one from the Bell Witch Cave and the other from Stuhl Cemetery in Stuhl, Kansas, which tradition says is one of the two places each year is visited by the devil.
When we took part in one of Troy Taylor's tours of Southern Illinois haunted sites, we had to show him the way to Murphrysboro's Riverside Park where we had coincidentally attended a couple small renaissance fairs (since defunct). It was here that a Bigfoot-type creature dubbed the Big Muddy Monster was sighted more than 30 years ago. Troy had wanted to stop on a bridge over the Big Muddy but the highway traffic was too thick and, knowing that the Monster was also seen in Riverside Park, we guided him there as a more than suitable alternative.
Also on that trip, we stayed overnight at Giant City State Park in one of the cabins. Pat used a device that helped her breathe - she had sleep apnea - and had to wear it over her face. I thought it resembled an Alien-inspired face-hugger. Pat slept that night in the cabin at Giant City with her sleep apnea device. Keep in mind that two small, cone-shaped rubber pieces fit in the breathing channel of the mask in specific locations where they will not shift due to their shape. When we woke in the morning, one had been reversed, which cannot happen accidentally due to the shape of the item and its resting place. When she asked me if I had done it, naturally I said no. I'm not a prankster and I definitely wouldn't touch someone's medical equipment.
Just before we loaded into the van, Troy told us the Giant City ghost story. Troy said back in the 1960's, there were a bunch of boys on a stayover, the boys distributed to the various small cabins and supervised by a couple adults who hung out in the lodge and did a bed check and walk-through throughout the night. They missed one boy who sneaked away from one of the cabins in the night Despite a thorough search of the heavily forested area, the boy was never found. Since then there have been numerous minor, but harmless, pranks on people staying in the cabins. When Troy told the story about the ghost just before we loaded into the van, he said no one knew where the cabin was the boy had stayed because they'd painted and renumbered them since the disappearance. We cheerfully piped up that we knew and told what had happened.
I had a heart attack the night of Monday, November 26, 2007. The next day at the hospital where I was recovering I told Pat I saw the tunnel, but it had a sign marked "Detour-Repairs Underway". Pat insisted it more likely read "Weight Limit Exceeded."
Pat also was president of the Friends of the Library and spent a lot of time working on cataloging the books in the new computerized system. She was constantly crocheting gifts including a dark blue afghan I have on my bed. New parents often got baby blankets from Pat and she would take her crocheting with her wherever it looked like she'd have time to sit down and wait. Our friend, Dawn Myers, spoke glowingly at her memorial service about how great her crocheting technique was. After she passed away, Dawn found numerous unfinished projects that Pat, a perfectionist, had either become disenchanted with or had just dropped in favor of a more immediate project. Invariably, she was crocheting against the clock (there's a wierd image!) to finish a project for some upcoming baby shower or other event. She always had a lot more projects like these than she really had time for.
Dawn and Pat used to spend time together crocheting and talking. We'd have dinner at Dawn and Dave's house -- at the time Dave was on the road a lot -- and Dawn, a pagan, would sometimes lay out the Tarot cards for Pat, and I picked up a lot about various locals from listening to them talk.
I portray Santa Claus for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. Whenever something nice or wierd happened, Pat would say, "That's what happens when you date Santa Claus."
One time at Dawn's house, we dropped by on the way back from the nearby Mexican restaurant, just to say hi, and Dawn's daughter was there with her children. She was very agitated. She had to be somewhere and Dawn wasn't back from where she'd been going. No problem. We said we'd watch after them and, relieved, she left them in our charge. Remember that all these kids to this day are convinced I am Santa Claus. I sat them down and said, "everybody has to behave or I'm cancelling Christmas. We'll go straight to Washington's Birthday." The sound level was muted for the rest of the evening and one of the kids even lay down on the couch near us and went to sleep. Pat loved to retell that story whenever possible. So do I. By the way, a few days later, one of the kids seemed a little down and Dawn asked what was wrong. He said, "I'm stressed. My grandma's a witch and my babysitter is Santa Claus."
When Pat was hospitalized with pneumonia, I decided on reading to her Smart Dragons, Foolish Elves, a collection of 18 funny fantasies, because the stories were light rather than something violent or downbeat. Pat was drugged or exhausted much of the time when I read to her. When she was awake and conscious, we talked. That is, I talked, she made weak hand gestures. (Boy, did she light up when someone from Nashville would visit us!) She passed away, of course, so I don't expect to read this book again, but it did fill the bill when I needed it. I regret that the last day I was with her I didn't have it and she wanted me to read to her. I told her I'd bring the other book back, but never got a chance.
Pat loved penguins, by the way, and has one adopted in her name at the St Louis Zoo. She also collected swans...ceramic, glass, wall hangings, etc....so she has a trumpeter swan in her name, as well.
A shame I can't get her a dragon. That would be cool. I could get her a komodo dragon...the St Louis Zoo does have one. But they kill by biting, creating an infection, stalk you for a couple days, then drag you off for dinner when you become delirious. Very nasty. Pat would not be impressed with such a gift.
Pat graduated Magna Cum Laude from Woodbury University in California with a BS Degree in Business Administration. She was employed as an administrative assistiant with the City of Nashville Public Works Department. She was president of the Nashville Friends of the Library, member of the Kaskaskia College Instrumental, Highland Community, and Venedy Bands where she played the flute. She was involved in the Nashville chapter of Project Linus and attended the Grace United Methodist Church in Nashville. She was a breast cancer survivor and participated in the annual Relay for Life.
In accordance with her wishes, cremation rites were performed. A Memorial Celebration was held Monday, September 14th at the Nashville Community Center and was attended by 75 people. Memorial contributions amounting to $920 were made made to Friends of the Nashville Library. (By comparison, an annual fall library used book sale resulted in a profit of $1100. Pat would've been pleased.) Styninger Funeral Home in Nashville handled arrangements.
