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| Francis "Fuzzy" Swayze, in 2011, standing in front of his high school class photos, Tivy class of 1938. You can see him on the 2nd row, 4th from left. Click on any image to enlarge. |
We first met, most likely, in the mid-1960s, when I was a child and went with my father to his weekly Kiwanis Club meetings, back when the club met at the Blue Bonnet Hotel, on the corner of Water and Earl Garrett Streets. Fuzzy was Kiwanian, having served the club as a board member and president, as well as in countless other roles.
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| Swayze and John M. Mosty, taking the oath of office for Kerrville City Council, 1968 |
His time on the city council was not without stress. Shortly after Swayze was selected mayor, one of the city council members resigned, having accepted a new job in a different city. Most councils quickly appoint a person to fill the unexpired term of the now-vacant seat, but for several reasons, the remaining four city council members could not agree on a replacement.
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| The Kerrville City Council, 1968, before Marvin Hunter (2nd from right) resigned |
While I'm sure this period of time when nothing was getting done frustrated Mayor Swayze, but in all the years I've known him, I never once heard him talk about those difficulties.
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| Robert Holdsworth, Nell and Francis Swayze, Mary and Howard Butt, at the first anniversary of the opening of the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, 1968 |
He also took many of the photographs of children attending summer camps in the area. He not only took the individual photos, but also had a large panoramic camera to take photographs of the entire group of campers in one shot.
He once told me there were many years a camper would stand on one side of the group, and, after his portion of the panoramic photo was taken, and while the camera slowly panned across the assembled campers, would run behind the bleachers, hoping to appear twice in the same photograph. He chuckled and told me it often worked.
In my collection of Kerrville and Kerr County photographs, many of the best photos were taken by Fuzzy Swayze. He took photographs of many community events, from Tivy students stuffed into a telephone booth to daredevil acts at the local water ski show.
More than once Fuzzy offered a gentle correction to an item I published in this column, and 100% of the time, his memory of events and places here was correct.
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| Teens in phonebooth, taken by Swayze |
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| Water ski show, taken by Swayze |
His late wife, Nell, was the dietician for the Kerrville Independent School District for many years, and she was also quite a golfer.
This last week, Francis "Fuzzy" Swayze turned 100 years old. He lives in San Antonio in an elder care facility, and has celebrated this milestone all week.
I have so many fond memories of time spent with Fuzzy -- and I know you'll join me in wishing him a very happy birthday.
Until next week, all the best.
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If you enjoyed this column, you'll enjoy my two books, which are collections of my columns from 1994 to 2018. Both books are available at Wolfmueller's Books, Herring Printing Company, and online by clicking HERE.
Happy birthday, Mr. Swayze. In 1961, you took pictures of me, my suster, and brother, as a gift to our parents. Of course, there were many other occasions you were around town with your camera during my growing up years. My maiden name is Shaw.
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