COGGIE SWEARINGEN'S OBIT AS PRINTED IN THE WOOD COUNTY DEMOCRAT DATED AUG 3, 2011

Reda LaColian Puckett Swearingen was born in Wood County, Texas, March 6, 1920, to Herman and Berta Connell Puckett.  She quickly became "Coggie" to everyone courtesy of her only brother, Herman Puckett, Jr.  Coggie graduated valedictorian of the 1937 class at Quitman High School and attended Baylor University.  She transferred to the College of Marshall where she met the man of her dreams, William Carroll Swearingen.  They married November 4, 1938 and moved to College Station where they lived until he graduated from Texas A&M College in 1940.

Like other members of the greatest generation they worked hard but were swept up in the winds of World War II.  Carroll joined the Navy, and Coggie followed him to Tucson for officer training and then to Boston and Key West where he was stationed on a sub chaser that patrolled the East Coast of the USA.  After the war they made their home in Quitman, Texas, for much of their 50+ year marriage.  They had a life long love affair with Coggie being the moon to Carroll's sun.  She reveled in being a wife to him and mother to their only child, Carolyn.  She adored and was much loved by her two granddaughters and four great grandchildren.  Additionally, Coggie was a fabulous cook, an interior designer, and loving all flowers except roses, she became a national flower show judge.

In their retirement years, Coggie and Carroll motor coached all over the USA until his death in 1992.  Then she got a bigger coach and continued to travel for several years, a passion that was cut short by being hit by a car as she walked across a street in Houston after working out with her personal trainer.  Coggie, a strong willed woman, overcame multiple injuries to enjoy a dozen more years of life in Houston and College Station.  She passed away peacefully of natural causes at her home in College Station on July 30, 2011 at the age of 91.

Coggie outlived most of her friends and all her generation in the Puckett-Swearingen families.  She is survived by her daughter: Carolyn and husband Tommie Lohman; granddaughters: Caroline Lohman and Amber Lohman Gray and her husband Cary Gray; great grandchildren: Thomas Cary Gray, William Carroll Gray, Caroline Elizabeth Gray and Cason Edward Lohman; special cousin: Madie Marrs; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews, all of whom admired and respected her.  The family acknowledges the loving care and guidance of Joan Brown as Coggie made her end of life transition.

Visitation was held on August 3, 2011 at 11:30 in the Fellowship Hall of the First Baptist Church, Quitman, where Coggie was a long time member; services followed at 1:00 PM.  Lowe's Funeral Home was in charge of services.