Bishop’s former secretary served diocese for 23 years

Published: October 24, 2019

Marian Louise Skelton Grant Swift, who worked at the Diocese of Little Rock for 23 years, died Oct. 14. She was 85.

Swift was born March 26, 1934, in Menifee to Jacob Yoes Skelton and Louise Mary Nabholz Skelton. In 1952, she graduated from St. Joseph High School in Conway. That same year, she married John William Grant. He died in 1978. In 1994, she married William Swift, who died in 2009.

She attended St. Joseph Church in Conway.

Swift started her career at the diocese by first working as a secretary for the late Deacon Bill Hartmann, who was the diocesan finance director. She then served as secretary to Bishop Andrew J. McDonald until his death in 2014. According to her diocesan obituary, serving Bishop McDonald was the job “she loved the most” and “she was kind, prayerful, always willing to lend a hand and loved by all.”

Swift retired in May 2017.

She is survived by three sons, Patrick Neil Grant, Barry Stephen Grant and Richard Lee Grant; three daughters, Jacqueline Louise Helton, Leslie Anne Rogers and Melanie Jean Blake; one brother, Walter Louis Skelton; and 14 grandchildren.

A visitation and rosary was held Oct. 17. A Mass of Christian Burial was Oct. 18 at St. Joseph Church.