Betty Swift

Betty Swift, 80, of Main Street, passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 19, 2008, at Sunset Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Boonville. She was born December 18, 1927, in Boonville, daughter of the late Kay W. and Jessie DePan Hodges. She was educated in Port Leyden schools and graduated as the valedictorian of her Port Leyden High School class. She also graduated from the Utica School of Beauty Culture and the Utica School of Commerce. For many years Betty owned and operated Betty's Beauty Salon on Main Street, Boonville. With her husband, Oliver Coon, she operated The Village Studio, capturing through pictures hundreds of family events in the North Country, continuing the venture after Oliver's death in 1969. Betty later worked for Oneida County Social Services, leaving in 1992 to start the next phase of her life. Betty was a communicant of St Joseph's Church, Boonville, where she was active in the Daughters of Isabella. She was also a member of the auxiliaries of the Order of the Purple Heart and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Betty is survived by her loving and devoted companion, Joseph Dluzewski, with whom she shared many adventures and world-wide travels. She is also survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Richard Jennings, Wakefield, MA; nieces and nephews: Marjorie Oravetz, Tucson, AZ; Barbara Ashline, Shirley Hilts-Adams, and Kathryn Norton, Utica; Rick (Mary) Jennings, Wakefield, MA; Sharon (Fred) Hupprich, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Patricia (William) Kumpel, Wakefield, MA; and John Jennings, Savannah, GA. She is also survived by many great-nieces and nephews. Betty was predeceased by her second husband, Howard Swift in 1984, by her sister and brother-in-law, Margaret Hilts Sweeney and C. Warner Hilts, Jr., and several step-children. Betty enjoyed visiting national and international shrines related to her Catholic faith, reading, gardening, baking, renovating her home, visiting with friends, and appreciating beauty in the world around her which she captured in many of her pictures. A prayer service for Mrs. Swift will be at 9:45 am Thursday at the Trainor Funeral Home, Inc., 143 Schuyler St., Boonville, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 am at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Boonville, with Rev. Donald H. Karlen, Pastor, as celebrant. Interment will be at the convenience of the family in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Boonville. Calling hours are Wednesday from 4 to 7 pm at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to St. Joseph's Church, in her memory. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.