Obituary of Howard Swain, Jr.

Howard Eugene Swain, Jr., age 73, of Ozark, Alabama, passed away peacefully at his home on June 11, 2025. The Funeral Mass will be held 10:00 A.M Tuesday, June 24, 2025, and will be celebrated at St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church of Ozark with Father Chris Boutin officiating. Following, the Rite of Committal will be held in Westview Memorial Cemetery in Ozark with military honors bestowed, with Masonic Rites presented, and with the Patriot Guard in attendance. No formal visitation will be held. Holman Funeral Home of Ozark will direct. Howard was born on August 16, 1951, in Savannah, Georgia. He graduated from Richard Arnold High School and proudly enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Howard served two tours in Korea where he was an aviation maintenance technician and was promoted to Aircraft Maintenance Senior Seargent. While in aviation school at Fort Eustis and on a road trip to a wedding in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he met the love of his life, Lydia, with whom he shared 47 years of marriage until his passing. Together they lived in Ingelheim, Germany, Fort Campell, Kentucky, and last at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where he retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 3. While serving he received numerous decorations, medals, and commendations. Upon retiring from the military, he was employed with Goody of Dothan as a plant maintenance superintendent and later as the plant and safety superintendent for Dunbarton Cooperation. Howard was a 49-year Scottish Rite Mason and was a member of the Ozark and Dothan Masonic Lodges. Committed to his community, Howard volunteered as a Carroll High School Band Booster and worked for years with the Carroll High School football team as a loyal member of the Friday night “Chain Gang,” pulling the down markers and moving along the sidelines for all the big plays. Howard was a Patriot Guard Rider, honoring fellow veterans at memorial services and standing with them in their final resting places. He served as an Honor Flight volunteer escorting World War II veterans to the monument that honors them in Washington, DC. He was a long-time member of St. John Catholic Church of Ozark where he shared his love of music by playing guitar in the choir for the folk mass each Sunday. Mechanically inclined, he loved to barter, trade, woodwork, fix, tinker, and collect items in his workshop. He enjoyed his land where over the years he raised goats and quail and enjoyed the visiting hummingbirds, turkeys, and gopher turtles. He liked taking road trips on his motorcycles and RV, was skilled at making homemade salsa, and loved to play music in his music room, piddling with the guitar, banjo, ukelele, mandolin, and even building several of his own instruments from cigar boxes. Howard was preceded in death by his parents, Howard Eugene (Jake) Swain, Sr. and Gertrude Williams Swain. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Lydia Hebert Swain, his two sons, Jason Robert Swain (Shannon) of Tallahassee, Florida, and Andrew (Drew) Joseph Swain (Holly) of Ozark, Alabama, his grandson, Ethan Tylor Swain, of Westminster, South Carolina, his sister, Cindy Swain Anderson, of Richmond Hill, Georgia, his brother, Corbett Brian Swain, of Jessup, Georgia, his sister, Carolyn Swain Villafonia (John), of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and several nieces, nephews, and cousins. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. John Catholic Church of Ozark, P. O. Box 1008, Ozark, Alabama 36361.