If Oscars were awarded in everyday life, Jan Swoope’s string of Best Supporting Actress honors would have long ago earned her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“When you were with Jan, she always made you feel like you were the most important person in the room,” Columbus Arts Council director Jan Miller said. “It was never, ever about her. She was always there, always helping, but never wanted to be in the spotlight.”
“You always knew it was going to be a pleasant experience any time you were around her,” agreed Linda Bobbitt, a longtime friend. “She was always kind, always interested in what you had to say. She never took over the conversation. She was the kind of person we all wish we could be.”
Swoope, an award-winning journalist as editor of The Dispatch’s Lifestyles section since 2008, a lifelong supporter of the arts, music, horses and people from all walks of life, died Wednesday at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle after a six-month battle with cancer. She was 67.
“It seemed like she could do anything,” said her son, Dudley. “Once she took an interest in something, she wasn’t content until she knew it inside and out, whether it was with horses, music or the work she did at the newspaper. That’s something my mom and dad instilled in me: You can do anything. You’re not stuck in some sort of preconceived mold because of where you are or what your circumstances are. There’s a big world out there and big opportunities for you. That’s had so much influence on my life as I look back.”
Swoope, née Norris, and her sisters, Marilyn and Beverly, grew up in East Columbus. Although raised as a “city girl,” she had an affection for horses that would later serve as an introduction into a family of her own, becoming a welcomed addition to the large and happily chaotic “Swoope Clan” that had been a fixture on family-held property in the Prairie for generations.
“It was the horses,” Dudley said. “She came out one time to see the horses and Dad asked her to come again. She did that a few times. At first, it was the horses. She would come out and see all those nieces and nephews running around, and she assumed Dad was married, that they were his kids. Then one day, Aunt Marilyn mentioned how it was kind of sad that my dad had never married.”
It quickly became about more than horses.
Jan and Oop married in 1980 and began joint operations of Rock Hill Stables. Together with Dudley, their only child, the little family settled comfortably into country life.
“It was a three-person operation, just Mom, Dad and myself,” Dudley said. “She would clean out stalls, help break the horses, give riding lessons, but she was also the brains of the operation.”
Promoting the community
Content, but never confined, Swoope continued to discover and devour outside interests, including music, especially the blues. As always seemed to be the case when she discovered a new interest, her first instinct was to share it, something that would foreshadow her entry into journalism, her son said.
“Writing was her way of sharing something that she was excited about,” Dudley said. “She helped start an equestrian magazine and later started writing about music.”
She began writing concert reviews for The Dispatch. Then, in 2008, she accepted the position of Lifestyles editor at the paper, providing her a forum to share her passion for both the arts and the finer traits of her beloved hometown.
“Jan’s passing is a loss for The Commercial Dispatch and for the Golden Triangle,” Dispatch publisher Peter Imes said. “For more than a decade, she has overseen what I believe is the best Lifestyles section in the state. Her deep roots in Columbus, her love for our community and the delicate yet thorough method of reporting have made Columbus a better city in which to live.”
Swoope’s enthusiasm for her community and her native curiosity made her Lifestyles section a place where readers were introduced to everything from cornbread to concerts, a place where community organizations could connect with residents, an oasis of unapologetic optimism when the news of the day might be disturbing.
“I really feel like Jan will be recognized as an icon of Columbus,” Miller said. “We’ll look back years from now and see something she wrote about our community that offered a great perspective about what was going on at the time.”
Although it was her nature to accommodate those who wanted information about their events published, the practical reality was that she sometimes had to say no, something she did with the skill of a seasoned diplomat.
“That’s one of the things I loved about Jan,” Miller said. “You would go to her with something and she’d tell you it was a dumb idea, but she would say it in such a way that you would wind up saying, ‘Thank you. I love you so much.’”
“She was a lady, always a lady,” Bobbitt said. “Always kind. Always patient. She cared for people and let them know it.”
Stacy Clark, editor of Catfish Alley magazine published by The Dispatch, witnessed that quality often while Swoope worked with her as a contributing editor for the magazine.
“Anyone who knew Jan is aware that she had a bit of a greeting card problem,” Clark said. “Christmas, Valentine’s, another birthday, a rainy day, just to say hello. She kept a stash of sympathy cards in her desk … just in case.”
Near the end of her battle, when she had given up any remaining delusions of recovery, her thoughts went yet again to others.
“When I moved to Jackson four years ago, the cards and happies didn’t stop,” Clark said. “The last one, featuring Georgia O’Keeffe’s ‘Taos Mountain, New Mexico,’ arrived in early March. Tonight, I pulled it out, along with all of the others I’d saved, and reread her words. So many of the things she’d written resonated in my heart, but I’ve been meditating on this passage: ‘I’m doing OK; I really am. And I am blessed, appreciating every day. I’m counting on being ornery enough to beat this thing.’”
Her last message to her family and friends stayed true to her life’s narrative.
“Near the end, when she was able to talk to us, she said she was content and unafraid,” Dudley said. “For me, that’s what I needed to hear. It helped me.
“That was just the person she was,” he added. “She always, always said to go out and explore and be independent and self-sufficient, but she also said you needed to be there for people, to be a shoulder to cry on. As a kid, you think that’s just something moms say, but she practiced what she preached.
“There was nothing false about her.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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