Obituaries
Thomas H. Swearingen 1936 - 2011 Lawrence
Thomas Swearingen
Funeral services for Thomas H. Swearingen, 74, Lawrence, will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. Burial will follow in the Clinton Cemetery in Clinton.
Mr. Swearingen died on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, at Kansas University Medical Center.
He was born Sept. 14, 1936, in Horton, the son of Roger O. and Alberta Kincaid Swearingen.
Mr. Swearingen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in graphic arts from KU in 1960. He was retired as the director of exhibits at the Dyche Natural History Museum at KU. Mr. Swearingen had worked there from 1960 to 2001. While there, he was well-known for his exhibit of “Comanche,” the lone military survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn with Gen. George Armstrong Custer and Chief Sitting Bull. Mr. Swearingen had worked both internationally and in the United States on special exhibits, and set up the National Museum in Bahrain. He devoted much time to creating exhibits of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Mr. Swearingen was a member of the Shetland Pony Association of America, and the Kansas Taxidermist Association.
He married Nancy Wempe on Aug. 26, 1967, in Lawrence. She survives of the home.
Other survivors include a daughter, Heather Van Swearingen, Marinwood, Calif., three sons; Thomas H. Swearingen Jr. and wife Kristy, Elgin, Ill., William C. “Bucky” Scribner and wife Cindy, Camdenton, Mo., and Rocky Swearingen and wife Becky, Lawrence; a sister, Patsy Lehew and husband Larry, Horton; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter, Suzanne Swearingen.
The family will greet friends from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the mortuary.
The family suggests memorials to the Leukemia Society or to the charity of the donor’s choice, sent in care of the mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent to warrenmcelwain.com.
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