Longtime Lawrence teacher, doer of social justice dies

Forrest Swall

Forrest Swall not only taught social justice, he lived it.

The longtime Kansas University assistant professor, former state legislator and advocate for numerous social causes died Dec. 30 at his Lawrence home from complications of lymphoma and leukemia. He was 83.

Swall retired from KU’s School of Social Welfare, where he was an assistant professor for decades. Prior to that, he taught at the University of Missouri, worked as a juvenile officer in two Missouri counties and spent two years as a vocational agriculture teacher. Swall, a democrat, served one term in the Kansas House of Representatives in the early 1990s.

Swall did not leave social justice in the classroom.

“His legislative and community contacts made it possible for us to provide many students with hands-on opportunities for policy practice projects across the state,” wrote Rosemary Chapin, School of Social Welfare professor and director of the Center for Research on Aging and Disability Options. “These opportunities grew into lifelong careers for some students, and former students often tell me what an impact Forrest had on their lives.”

Chapin said Swall was a staunch advocate for social justice his whole life, and one of the “tall oaks” of the school of social welfare, and the state.

Gay rights, food access for the poor and even physician-assisted death — Swall advocated publicly for them all.

In recent years, caring for his wife, Donna, and later his own health issues forced Swall to cut back some of his involvement, said son Ron Swall, of Lawrence. But he did stay plugged in.

Forrest Swall’s community involvement included the Douglas County Coalition on Aging, Just Food, the Social Action Justice Team at the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence and co-founding the Topeka-Lawrence area chapter of PFLAG, a national organization of LGBTQ families and allies.

He was an outspoken advocate for gay rights, appearing multiple times in Topeka to oppose the state’s gay marriage ban, which, in one 2004 news article, he called “bigotry masquerading as morality.”

As a teacher, Ron Swall said, his father led by example, encouraging students to get out “on the street” to see the environment the people they were trying to help lived and worked in on a daily basis.

He had strong opinions but encouraged discourse with a “quiet strength,” Ron Swall said.

“Some people can be loud and bombastic and forceful, that was not his style,” he said. “He wasn’t going to try to force you to change your opinion, but he wanted to engage in conversation.”

In addition to supporting social causes, Swall and his wife enjoyed traveling the country in their RV dubbed the “Mothership,” visiting friends and family.

He is survived by his wife, son Ron, two daughters and their families. A memorial service is planned in February, though details have not been set.