Obituary

Virginia Louise (Bell) Swain, 88, gained her Guardian Angel wings when she passed away peacefully on the morning of November 1, 2024 in Gilbert, Arizona.

She was born on December 15, 1935 to Leo Wilson Bell and Ilah Laura Williams (Bell) in Lubbock, TX. She was the youngest of four children. Her siblings Laura, Charles, and Mary have all preceded her in death.

She graduated from Lubbock High School in 1954 and would tell everyone she met that she went to high school with rock and roll star, Buddy Holly, who was a year behind her in school. That was always her claim to fame and an impressive one at that! After graduation she attended Texas Tech University for a year.

In 1955 she married Rex Morgan Easter. They had two sons, Joe Paul and Russell Morgan Easter.

After Rex passed away in 1970, she remarried to Robert “Bob” Swain in 1972. They moved their combined family to Ruidoso in the beautiful mountains of South Central New Mexico where they lived and worked for the next twenty plus years before retiring in the mid 1990’s and returning to the west Texas plains around Lubbock.

In 2014 Virginia and Bob made the decision to relocate to Gilbert, Arizona and live with her son, Russell and his family.

After Bob passed away in 2017, Virginia had a rebirth of sorts to her life as she embarked on a journey of getting back into bowling (her favorite past time) and trying out water aerobics, where she made some wonderful new friends. She even got the chance to fulfill her dream of flying on an airplane for the first time and going on an Alaskan cruise one summer with a life-long friend from Ruidoso.

Virginia loved going thrift store shopping, out to eat with friends, watching her soap operas, seeing the Phoenix Suns play basketball on tv, and keeping her mind active by listening to audio books and playing word games on her computer. As well, she just loved getting to visit and talk with friends and family. She was most excited about being here for the birth of her twin great granddaughters, Amelia and Clara on October 5, 2024. It was her greatest joy that her final act here on this earth was to hold one of those precious angels in her arms and give her a kiss on the head. After doing so, she found peace in her soul and shortly thereafter departed this world.

She is survived by her 2 sons, Joe Paul Easter and Russell Easter, and her four step-children Gary Swain, Sheri Swain-Pryor Nichols, Mark Swain, and Lori Swain Lowe. Her loving grandchildren are Jennifer Swain, Anna Marlow, Justin Rogers, Samantha Morgan, William Brockmoller, Stephanie Easter, Cassidee Lowe Warner, Cain Lowe, Cason Lowe, Reilly Easter Hayes, and Lance Easter. Her great grandchildren are Jalen, Jenzie, James, Liam, Corbin, Channing, Amelia, and Clara.

Waiting to greet her in Heaven was her beautiful granddaughter, Markie Swain.

She is also survived by a multitude of nieces, nephews, cousins, and in-laws on the Bell side of her family whom she dearly loved to correspond with on Facebook and when she was able to return to the Lubbock area and visit with in person.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be donated in Virginia’s memory because of her love of animals to a local animal rescue organization called, Friends for Life, at the following web address. https://azfriends.org/support/donate/