Obituary
Terence Byron Swift passed away on September 5, 2024 at his boyhood home in Indian Trail Lake, Farmland, Indiana. Born on July 26, 1971 in Auburn, Indiana, Terry was born and bred a Hoosier. He attended Union School in Modoc, Indiana, Indiana University, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
Terry loved Indiana, but he loved adventuring more. He was driven to create and teach art. During his thirty years as an educator, he taught children how to make and enjoy art in Corydon, IN; Vashon,WA; Indonesia; and Malaysia. His dedication to teaching art has impacted the lives of so many students throughout his career.
Terry is survived by his mother, Deborrah Lumpkins Swift; his sister, Leslie Swift; Eddie Glaser; his former wife Salli (Jennings) Swift; a group of long standing friends; special aunt, Diana Lumpkins Ross; uncles and many cousins.
He was preceded in death by his father, Steven Swift; his brother, Douglas Swift; and both sets of grandparents.
Our hearts are broken. Terry Swift was an exceptional person. We will miss his discussions about books, movies, and art.
A reflection on a Swift life
Terry Swift lived a life of art. His identity as an artist built from a child’s exceptional talent with a pencil, and Terry’s creative nature branched and grew throughout his days. The people, the milestones, the environments – Terry curated those experiences as though he had an eye on the grander piece. That creation has now ended, and it is left to us who knew Terry to unravel how each of us played our part in his life.
Sharing with those around him was central to Terry’s practice. To his circles, he brought his gifts and encouraged others to share their own. Terry’s many friends valued the shared trust and spark of creativity Terry brought to every endeavor. Hundreds of students might attest to this as well, with their introduction to higher levels of art and the shepherding of their young talents under Mr. Swift’s guidance. Terry’s joy in teaching and the celebration that he had for every student’s progress were core to his life. The benefits of engaging with Terry were known and experienced by many, many people.
It was, however, Terry’s family that first felt the gift of his quick wit, deep intelligence, and loquacious nature. Terry was preceded in death by his father Steve and his brother Douglas, and he is survived by his mother Deb and his sister Leslie. All of the Swifts share a longstanding love of each other, and the loss of their son and brother has been grievous.
Terence Byron Swift was born July 26, 1971 and died September 5, 2024, both events in his Hoosier home state of Indiana. Between those dates though, Terry traveled widely. After the Union School in Modoc, he was off to the renowned studios of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and then to Indiana University.
The great city of Chicago opened a new world to Terry, and after an introduction to the profession of teaching art in Corydon, Indiana, Terry and his new bride Salli were away on an adventure of decades. Life led the Swifts across the country to the Puget Sound where they made a home on Vashon Island, Washington.
Accessible only by ferry boat, the island’s isolated nature and character proved fertile ground for an artist. Terry’s arrival at McMurray Middle School made an initial splash that became an impactful tenure as an art teacher. The classroom studio filled the school’s basement and had once been the woodshop. That dank and dark space changed as Terry introduced students not only to the foundations and facets of high level art, but he also embraced the old shop tools for varied 3D work, built out a working darkroom for film photography, and showed students convinced that they could not that they very clearly could.
Eventually, Terry followed one of those graduating classes of 8th graders up to Vashon High School, and he continued to train those student artists, many at the Advanced Placement level. And after that interlude, the Swifts took their adventure overseas to both Malaysia and Indonesia, where Terry found new inspiration in those cultures as he taught in the shared language of art. A number of Mr. Swift’s students over the years went on to art schools themselves, and many more keep practice with the skills and vision he helped them shape.
One of the many idiosyncratic contradictions of our beloved Swiftie was that he was both a seeker of new experience and an inveterate creature of habit. Those who knew him already miss the unexpected windows he would open in our animated discussions and fecund outpouring of ideas (both practical and harebrained!) that Terry would engender. It is equally heartbreaking to know that we will not again be seeing that affable fixture ensconced in a chair with a cup, a book, and a cigarette. Swiftie was a man at home in the comfortably familiar and the marvelously outlandish.
None of us knew this better than Salli, Terry’s wife and partner for more than 30 years. As much as Terry influenced the people around him, it was Salli who helped keep Terry most true to himself.
These many factors, elements, and people blended into the art that was Terry Swift’s life. If you wish to reflect on your place that piece, you might do so by trying one of Terry’s favorite activities: get lost in a book that you think you’ll love, sketch with a pencil no matter your belief in your talent, or hoist a glass with some friends and tell them why they are important to you and how much you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
-James Cardo
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To send flowers to his family please visit:
https://www.walkerswinchester.com/obituary/Terence-Swift/sympathy-landing
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