| Hughes, Arkansas School Faculty Memorial |
| James Odis Swaffar, Jr. July 18, 1931 – May 7, 1990 Coach Tenure: 1960-1965 |
| Coach Swaffar was born July 18, 1931 in Cleburne County, Arkansas, son of James Otis Swaffar Sr. and Wilma Mae (Kendrick) Swaffar. He entered Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway, where he met his future wife, Patsy Ruth Cate. They were married on August 19, 1950. Mrs. Swaffar graduated from ASTC in 1950 and taught in the County Line Public School System in Branch, Arkansas, while Coach Swaffar finished his degree. He earned the B.S.E., graduating in 1951. They then took teaching jobs working together in the Trumann Public Schools, Trumann, Arkansas, and subsequently in Holcomb (Missouri), Turrell, Cherry Valley, and finally Hughes, where they joined the faculty in school year ’60-’ 61. Their daughter Sharon was born while they were at Cherry Valley. Coach Swaffar retired from coaching in 1965 and returned to Pearson, Arkansas, to join his brother in farming and cattle ranching. He was a member and past president of the Arkansas Charlois Association, a member of the American International Charlois Association, the Arkansas Cattleman’s Association, the Cleburne County Farm Bureau, and a former member of the ARCI Charbra Commission. He also served on the Cleburne County Board of Education. He and Mrs. Swaffar were charter members of the Pines Baptist Church, where he served as Sunday School Superintendent for several years. Coach Swaffar died at age fifty-nine, on Monday, May 7, 1990, at the Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, interment in the Pearson Cemetery, Cleburne County, Arkansas. |
