Margaret Julia Thornton Swicker

PITTSFIELD Margaret Julia Thornton Swicker, 97, passed away March 21, 2013, at Sweetbrook of Williamstown Rehab & Nursing Center. Born Aug.3, 1915, in Dewy Rose, Ga., she was the daughter of Thomas and Martha Holme Thornton. Margaret's parents were cotton farmers on 200 acres of land that also grew corn and beans. When the government stopped her parents from growing cotton, most of her siblings left Georgia. Margaret left the Bible belt and her beloved Southern Baptist Church to land in Englewood, N.J., where she met her husband, Jack Swicker. The Grand Union grocery chain transferred them to Pittsfield in 1940. Two years later they purchased the Wendover Dairy which merged with the Dairy Center of the Berkshires. During this time, they opened the Wendover Restaurant in Lenox and Swicker's Guesthouse on Stockbridge Bowl. Margaret did the bookkeeping and managed the guest house until they retired to Florida. Margaret and Jack were active in the Lanesborough Federated Church and the Evangelical Free Church in Pittsfield. Margaret T. Swicker leaves four children, Jack Swicker Jr. and his wife, Shirley, Charles T. Swicker and his wife, Roberta, Margaret Lynn Doyle and Beverly Kim Dixon, 11 grandchildren, David, Ruth, Jonathan, Keith, Ricky, Julie, Chris, Terry, Laura, Joshua and Brianna, and 14 great-grandchildren, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by twelve brothers and sisters. A service for Margaret T. Swicker will be held Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Wellington Funeral Home, 220 East St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. There will be a time of visitation at the funeral home on Monday from 5:00 p.m. until the start of the service at 6:30 p.m. Burial will be in the Dewy Rose Baptist Church Cemetery in Dewy Rose, Ga., with her husband Jack on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. Please visit www.wellingtonfuneralhome.com to leave condolences for the family. Wellington Funeral Home in Pittsfield, MA is in charge of arrangements. Local arrangements are by Berry Funeral Home & Crematory.