ph: (714) 731-0885
I know there were many of you who couldn't make it to the service so I have uploaded video clips for you to enjoy. It really was a very wonderful service and I thank everyone who contributed. You are all so very special to me. ~Mary
Frankie sings 'He Ain't Heavy - He's My Brother'
Len Swavely's Eulogy
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On behalf of the family, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of you, for taking the time to honor Billy and celebrate his life with us. The out pouring of sympathy has been tremendous and we are eternally grateful.
Billy left quite a legacy and along with that a ministry that can continue to grow through each of us.
It has been said that “There are no great men, only men that God uses greatly.”
Billy was a great man, and God is using him greatly.
Our dear brother Al is going to come up in a few moments to share Billy’s life with you.
Today I just wanted to lend a few words of encouragement to each of you, so hopefully we can all leave here today with a renewed feeling of peace, knowing that Billy is truly with Christ and he suffers no more.
Earlier this year my family and I lost a very dear friend of ours to lung cancer as well and at his funeral his son-in-law stood in the pulpit and proclaimed cancer as the devil’s decease.
I now have a greater understanding of what he meant.
It puts the family thru hell,
And it puts the afflicted thru hell.
I’m reminded of the lyrics in a song by the Steve Miller Band called “Jet Airliner” that said, “You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven”. That pretty much sums up the process many of us felt watching Billy battle this devil’s decease.
In his book, “The Eye of the Storm”, Christian pastor and author, Max Lucado writes, “The eye of the storm is where we often find ourselves, that is where God is best heard.”
Why is that? Why is it that as we are facing trials and tribulations in our lives, we hear God so clearly.
I believe it’s because now we are listening…our prayers change, and as we pray, we are listening for Him, and to Him. We are going thru some stuff we don’t like, we want some answers, and we want God to fix it.
And now God has our attention. And we say, “Lord, where were you? And he tells us I’ve been here the whole time, you moved away from me. You steered off the path.
I’m reminded of the time that Pastor Chuck of Calvary Cost Mesa shared a story of when he and his wife Kay were out for a drive. Pastor Chuck at the wheel Kay looks over at him and says, "You know Chuck, when were dating and we used to drive down the street, you had one hand on the wheel and you would be hugging me with the other, and now we are sitting so far apart from each other, what happened to us?" Chuck looked at her and said “I never moved”.
That’s what we do… we move away from God and think that we can handle things on our own and when the roof caves in on us we want to know why God wasn’t standing watch.
When we received the news about Billy and knew that we were in for a battle with this devil’s decease, our family came together and enlisted friends, co-workers, and brothers and sisters in Christ, to start the prayer chains and we all went to church and had the pastor lay hands on Billy and just really dug in for the battle.The following week the Holy Spirit led Billy to the front of the church during the alter call as Pastor Greg Laurie led Billy thru the sinners prayer and Billy proclaimed Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
In the following days and weeks I received several phone calls from Billy and he is on fire for the Lord. He wanted to write songs of praises for the Lord and to open a church that he would lead worship and praises with our brother Al, and Al and I would deliver the sermons. He had it all planned out. The 2nd time that he called me he had found a building for the church and he wanted to come here to talk with Pastor Chuck to see if we could enlist him to help in the process. He then called my wife to tell her of his desires and I’m guessing to ensure that I was up for this, and if I wasn’t, then she needed to help get me there.
One night while visiting Billy, about 4-5 weeks prior to God calling him home, he called me over to his bedside. Mary excused herself and I was left there alone with my brother. Billy took me by the hand and asked me to promise him to drop in on his kids from time to time to make sure that each of his children know the Lord and are walking with him. He shared a special message for each of them that I will be sharing with them individually in the future.
A couple of nights later, my wife and I were visiting with him and he called her over and asked her if I had shared with her, the promise that I had made to him.
Billy knew that if I would at any time fail to live up to my promise, my wife Sandy would insure that I got back on track and stayed the course.
Billy knows the savior, he knows that he was going to be in his presence soon, and he wanted to make it abundantly clear to everyone that he knows the Savior. Talk about a transformation.
Had things happened differently and Billy died suddenly and never has the chance to confess his faith, I suspect that our family would not be at peace right now. We might spend the rest of our lives not knowing if we would see him again. I believe, in no uncertain terms, that Billy is with Christ in heaven.
Maybe it is the devil’s decease?
And God uses it
In His perfect timing
To bring his children to their knees,
before he calls them home.
As the afflicted goes thru hell, they find heaven, and a Savior.
And the rest of us can look up,
and smile
because we find peace.
David Swavely's Eulogy
(Read by Len Swavely)
Watch it now
Hello to my family and to the many friends of our brother Bill.
I ask for your understanding that I could not be there today.
I'd like to address our mother first. Mom, I know that Bill's passing is as difficult for you as it is for the rest of us. There's no greater pain than a mother who experiences the loss of her child. All I can say is I love you Mom.
My memories of Bill are limited, thus deeply appreciated. My being apart from my family for so many years has come with a heavy price. A recent visit from my niece Ashleigh really showed me how little I know about her, as well as the rest of my family, nieces, nephews, etc. For those of you who may not know Ashleigh, get to know her. She is a wonderful, kind, loving, and caring person.
Ashleigh had planned to come to Hawaii for several months, and eventually they booked a flight for May 22, 2010. On the morning of May 22, 2010, my wife Cynthia and I were preparing to pick up Ashleigh and her family from the airport when my home telephone rang. My heart hit the floor when I heard Mary's voice quivering on the other end as she struggled to tell me that my oldest brother Bill had died. It seemed as though I had just left Bill's bedside a couple of weeks ago and prior to returning to Hawaii, I was so convinced that Bill had at least a few more years left to live. Time stood still as Mary cried over the phone.
Later that morning Ashleigh, Kurt and Christian arrived at Honolulu airport. Clearly God intended to have a member of my California family here in Hawaii to be with me on the day of Bill's passing. I firmly believe that Ashleigh's visit was no coincidence. God was simply demonstrating that love can overcome anything and that family is the best provider of love. "Thank you Lord."
Bill meant so much to me. To me, Bill represented the true Swavely family lineage, real and unpretentious. Bill would joke around during family gatherings; playfully cutting me down and yet Bill always stuck up for me whenever others gave me "zingers".... that meant a lot to me.
Bill was a fantastic big brother, doing all the big brother "stuff", yet he never went too far.
Bill is the greatest entertainer I have ever seen. Bill is the indisputable best singer in our family, myself included. I remember watching Bill sing his heart out, so truly blessed with a voice that brought joy to so many people.
About 15 years ago, Bill and I took a pact to do a biker run to South Dakota from California, in honor of our deceased father. I deeply regret not making it to California in time to do that run with Bill before he passed away. I've decided that I'm still going to make the trip; Bill will be with me in spirit. You are all invited to join me!
To Bill's children Rodger, Jennifer and Travis: Remember that we have a large, loving family and that love can overcome anything and that we (your uncles and auntie's) all love you. We vow to help you in any way we can.
To my brothers and sisters: I recall a verse which the Pastor recited at Uncle Harold's funeral, "To be out of the body is to be with the Lord". I know that our brother Bill is with our Lord in Heaven.
To Mary: Many people cared for Bill throughout his illness, but you were the one who was there, 24 hours a day, at his side providing your unwavering dedication, your love, and your hard work, caring for my brother. For this, we are all forever indebted to you. You've done so much for Bill. God bless you Mary.
If I left anyone out, please forgive me; this was very difficult to write.
God bless you all.
Love Always,
Dave
Rodger Swavely's Eulogy
Dennis Houser's Eulogy
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I have a question for all of us...."How do you hold a Moon Beam in your hand?"
It seems to me that Moon Beam pretty aptly describes Bill Swavely.
I had the privilege of teaching Choral music at El Modena High School here in Orange and during my tenure at El Mo, I tried many times to hold that Moon Beam, but it was not to be.
You see, when you have a student like Bill, you cannot hold them, in any form. You simply guide and direct them while they plot their own course. Bill was such a student. I remember the first time he came into my classroom and said, "I wan to be in your choir." My response was simple..... "REALLY!" Now eventually i did come to realize that he was there because he wanted to sing, but he was really there because in my choir was this very lovely young lady that he wanted to get to know. Well those things did have a way of resolving themselves and Bill and I developed a very close relationship.
Now I did learn that if Bill wanted something from you, he had a way of coming up to you looking you in the eye and saying, "I know that you will want to do this for me, so let me tell you what you really want to do for me." Often I would listen to what I knew was going to be the fact that he wanted me to allow him to miss class for a project at El Mo and more often than not, my response was..... "REALLY!" Lena and Len, you know what I mean don't you?
Here is the challenge for me today, how do you encapsulate in a short Eulogy the creative prowess of a young man that captured not only your musical ear, but your heart as well? Yes, it was over 40 years ago that I met Bill, but you do not forget that spirit, that talent, that drive and desire to sing. You simply do not. Specifically I remember Bill singing the solo on a spiritual entitled "Lord, If I got my ticket, can I ride?" With your permission I would like to play that for you now. Listen Now
How do you catch a "Moon Beam in your Hand?" Simply stated, you do not, you watch it, you nurture it, you love it and you let it go. It cannot be held.
Bill, you have your ticket and your Lord has said, come Sing with Me. I miss you my friend.
Scott Smith's Eulogy
Billy Dee……
Most of you know, I knew Billy for 46 yrs. We went to El Modena together, and thus my memories will be different than yours of this good soul who traveled through this life’s journey.
Billy learned the lessons he was to learn here. He taught us the lessons we were to learn.
Let me share a few that Billy demonstrated and blessed us with.
He always had the ability to use humor. He was quick witted, and always had the last word. 2 days before he died he found out I was playing in a golf tournament, and in an effort to be inclusive I asked him to share with me some great lesson he could pass on…… he simply said… “don’t bother playing”. You see he had played golf with me before.
He had the capacity to Sing, we all have felt that part of his life, it was largely who he was. I benefited from his voice and guitar playing as he was the talent behind “Blue Steel” our high school rock and roll band, which actually got 4 jobs, all because of Billy. From that humble beginning he entertained thousands. Music is the soothing medicinal elixir for the soul. I recently asked him how many songs he actually knew…. 1000 was his answer. In contrast most of us really only know 1 or 2 that we can really sing and perhaps play with some instrument. He demonstrated excellence. It is said that dedication and practice are both needed to become excellent. Billy had the ability to do both.
He had the talent to excel at playing Golf. Again, when we played together, and approached a green, I would struggle with which club to use, he would be thinking of which side of the flag he should land the ball to allow the best putting advantage. I saw a man here who was not only excellent but humble. He was good at golf, no doubt, but he hardly would share how really good he was with anyone. I learned to appreciate his humility.
With this exceptional skill in golf he realized that he could teach. This teaching was not conventional, but by being able to communicate and express the feeling you should have when swinging the club. The gift of teaching, is the gift of connecting, and sharing unselfishly your skill to benefit another. He taught me that.
There are many other characteristics I could highlight of Billy’s life, but lastly I consider love. Perhaps his greatest example was the same as Christ’s. He truly had the capacity to love. I never heard him criticize, and always heard him build up others, be amazed by his friends, be excited for others accomplishments, ask about each person he interacted with, care about what was happening to each individual around him. He did so not in a superficial way, but in a way that let you know he cared.
Billy’s memory will live long for me; I was blessed by having known him. We send him off to his next phase of life, having gained from him a better understanding of what we should learn from our journey. A better understanding of humor, of excellence and dedication, of humility, of teaching and being taught, and most importantly of Love and caring.
May we all be enriched and grow from our lives touching his ….. for we were all blessed from knowing him and being touched by him. My prayer would be that we don’t lose that memory in our life.
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Unfortunately, Scott's eulogy was not read at the service so I don't have a video to share, but Scott was my lifeline while I was taking care of Billy and I can't imagine what I would have done without his kindness and support. I was very touched by Scott's personal message to me (below).
Thanks Again Scott & Patti!
Sincerely,
Mary
Scott's Message:
"My own comments would have included personally a tribute to you.
Your dedication to this husband of yours was self-less love, and true charity.
You have actually done what others talked about, giving totally of yourself to another.
Not that it was the intent, but I am sure with that act, you have a 'ticket' on that train to heaven. My suspicion is that your heart will continue to be such that you wont loose it."
Al Swavely's Eulogy
My Brother Bill was born in Hawaii on June 28, 1952 to our late father, Robert, and our mom, Katherine, who by the grace of God, is here today. He was the first of 6 children; next, in order, were Terry, Len, myself, Lena and David.
He was married to his long time friend Mary, to whom we owe so many thanks for her unconditional loving care for him, which never changed even during these last difficult months and weeks.
He had 3 children, of whom he was so proud and loved with all his heart.
Among his many special relationships, were those with his oldest son, Rodger, and Rodger's mother, Debbie; his daughter, Jennifer, and Jenny's mother, Barbie; his youngest son, Travis, and of course, Travis' mother, Stephanie.
As kids we moved to Orange in 1967 and thankfully moved into a house right next door to the Chadwick family. We attended the same church as the Chadwick’s, where Billy, Len and I all got baptized back in 1968 by Pastor Warren Nelson at Orange Covenant Church …
We still felt like strangers in town because we were not very well known, but Billy changed that forever when he sang in the El Modena HS Talent show as a freshman in 1967 and won first place with his truly gifted golden voice and talent. I will never forget him singing My Island, Sonny, and My Dad at the talent shows and victoriously overcoming the challenges that got in his way.
Some of my fondest memories was watching my brothers, Bill and Len while on the track team, run past their opponents while making them almost look like they’re standing still, they past them up so quickly. As I think about those images in my head, I find myself really smiling inside… it was such an awesome team with Coach Pete Parker.
Billy and I recently ran into Coach Pete Parker at a golf course I believe in Irvine if I’m not mistaken, less than a year ago… and we had a great time reminiscing about the good ole days at El Mo and the Track team etc. We were so blessed just to have the 2 fastest guys on the planet on our team but more than that, they are MY brothers.
Billy was faster than Len when Len was a freshman, but Len became faster than Billy the next year… then Billy did what Billy would always do whenever he was challenged, and he really practiced and studied how to improve and become faster, and he became as fast as Len as they both ran record breaking times and we all had a truly great time being on the same team.
Billy started singing professionally at age 16 and played with many accomplished musicians throughout his career. Bill had so many special gifts and he brought so many people together with his outgoing personality, quick witted humor and talents.
We played together in his band called The Billy Dee Trio in the late 70’s early 80’s, at the Laughing Frog in Orange and at Tom Jones night club. We played music at night and golfed in the day. I played for a few years and decided that life wasn’t right for me.
Within a very short time of learning how to golf, Billy became Willowick Club Champion and went on to play in city championships as well as assist the Santa Ana College Golf Coach Dick Corey, and loved playing locally with friends.
When ever I was asked to play in a Best Ball golf tournament, I thought of Bill as one of my partners. Whenever I golfed, I thought of Bill and how we could get a game with someone.
We were brothers, but we were also fierce competitors in golf especially on the putting greens… we would literally putt for hours and hours and practice our short game with each other and compete with each other to see who would be the champion for the day. Bill would always win because even though I won all day, he would say, “ok this is the last hole… whoever wins this hole, wins for the day. If I won that hole, we would play more until he won... so I figured out a long time ago, sometimes it was easier just to let him win.
I was truly blessed to have Bill as my brother and I deeply cherish the countless memories we shared over our life time… we laughed every time we were together.
One day when we were playing golf at Willowick Golf Course, a man in his 70’s was walking down the fairway without a shirt on… and Bill looked at him and yelled, “Iron that shirt!” We laughed so hard at that… I’m still laughing today.
Billy had the best Short Game out of all the golfers I have ever known, and day in and day out, was the best golfer I’ve ever known. He was a wizard around the greens like no one I have ever seen before. 2 months before we found out that he was sick, he was playing the best golf of his life and felt like he could actually win on the senior tour and he made his 10th hole in one.
Bill always got excited when he saw old friends and acquaintances, and he just loved to stay up to date with everyone. Facebook has been very instrumental in bringing many of you here today.
My sister Lena had been posting information about Billy’s condition for 6 or 7 months, and the number of people that wrote in to her on Face Book was incredible. Old high school friends came out of the woodwork asking about Billy’s condition and how our family was doing.
We as a family want to publicly thank all of you for your love and support during these times.
Over the last 4 years, Bill has been asking a lot of questions about the Bible and specifically about God. Bill said, “Well how do you know that Jesus is real?” And I would tell him because of the miracles that He has done in my life, but more than that…
When I read about Jesus’ life in the Bible about how he spent His time teaching the Apostles… and showing them that he could raise feed 5000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, and make a blind man see, and heal a paralyzed beggar, and raise Lazareth from the dead… and while going to the cross, the apostles were afraid to die and said save yourself…. But they watched him die on the cross. They were afraid to stick up for Him at that time while He was alive… Why would they stick up for Him after He was dead? Bill would ask, “What do you mean?”
And I told him that after Jesus died, rose again and appeared to the apostles and over 500 eye witnesses before Jesus ascended into Heaven and left His Holy Spirit to communicate with us, then for the next 40 years 11 of the 12 apostles died martyrs deaths claiming Jesus Christ was surely God. Why would they die such horrible deaths for a lie? They wouldn’t stick up for Him when Jesus was alive, Why would they do it after He was dead?
Bill would ask, ”Al, are you telling me that if Charles Manson accepted Christ into his heart and asked for forgiveness and repented, he would be saved, and go to Heaven, And anyone else even baby killers?”
I would answer him, yes Bill, I am telling you these things because God’s Word tells you these things. Jesus came and died on the cross to pay for our sins so that ALL might be saved. Our God is a merciful God and a forgiving God.
Sin is Sin in God's eyes and when He forgives the sin, he forgets the sin! With the exception of one Sin that is called the unpardonable sin called blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Matthew chapter 12:30-32 I told Bill read it for yourself…, "Look it up for yourself… Look up the word Blasphemy in the Bible and in the Webster dictionary, do as much research on it as you need… my understanding of the Unpardonable sin is that it refers to not allowing the Holy Spirit into your heart, or ignoring the Holy Spirit. God won’t force His way into your heart, it’s actually a choice that we make to let Him in to our lives and into our heart, or not." and I would tell Bill, if you are feeling something in your heart and soul tugging at you, I would suggest that THAT IS the spirit of God knocking at the door of your heart and wanting to get in… in The Bible Jesus said in Revelation 3:20 Here I Am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
… That’s God wanting to come into your heart!!! That is exactly how God communicates with us…through His Word, and through our hearts with His Holy Spirit…God wants you… He died for you… and the Holy Spirit is Him tugging at your heart deep in your spirit and soul saying, Come to ME…Let me in…Hear My Voice. In the last year of Billy’s life he faced his biggest challenges as he shared many things with me that may not have been shared with anybody else, but that were deep down to the core of his being, eating at him and he didn’t know how to fix it. He knew his life was extremely complicated and totally mixed up. I specifically asked,” Bill do you have regrets?” He answered me very quickly with an emphatic Yes! I have so many regrets… If I could do it all over I would have done it all differently. I asked him what specifically would you have done differently that would have made a difference? His response was; I would have made a stand for Jesus right after we got baptized, and been a Godly example to all of my family and friends… I wish that I knew back then what to do and I wish that I would have made a difference for God, which in hind site… would have made all the difference in the world in my life and many others… when I look back, there is just so much pain… and I don’t know how to fix it.
I told him to give it to Jesus… in Matt 11:28 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I said, “Bill give it to Him, Give it ALL to Him!” He would tell me, Al… you turned your life over the Jesus because you had reached your bottom…. Well, everybody’s bottom is different…I told him well it just turns out then, that is exactly where Jesus wants us to be… in a place where there is nowhere else to turn but to Him… When our lives are out of control and we are lost… He wants you to look up to Him, and to call His name…
In John14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
In November 09 Billy rededicated his life to Christ at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside with Pastor Greg Laurie. In the final months of Bill’s life, he made it clear to his brothers and sisters that he knew he was in Jesus’ Hands and he wanted to make a big difference for Christ… He wanted to start a church… he was actually out looking for property, and he wanted to sing worship songs and have a band with all of us and just write songs for Jesus. And every time I whispered in his ear to keep talking to Jesus, he would acknowledge to me that he was... all the time.
Billy wanted ALL of his friends and Family to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and to live their lives following Christ and to let everyone else know about Him. And… he specifically wanted his children to know that he saw the light (literally) and he wants all of his family and friends to find Jesus and meet him in Heaven.
Whenever Billy was challenged and wanted to be good at something, he got every book he could find on the subject and studied it from every angle and he became the best at it. Shooting Pool, nobody could beat him, Throwing Darts, nobody could beat him… no matter what the challenge, he had to be the best, he had to be first and he had to win.
Well Bill you did it again… you won again and you beat me and the rest of us and made it to Heaven first… I know that I was praying for you to be healed and to stay here so that we could golf for another 30 years, but God chose to give you the ultimate healing and take you home so that you would feel no more pain, and maybe through your testimony here, many more people may come to know and trust Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
God allowed Billy the chance to come back to Him and be forgiven and to rededicate his life to Him. But NOT ALL PEOPLE get that chance; some are taken very quickly and tragically before they have another chance to accept Christ or to rededicate their lives to Him.
Thank you Lord, for giving our family the peace that surpasses all understanding, in the knowledge that Billy is with you, and we will see him again. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Amen
Copyright 2009 Billy Dee. All rights reserved.
ph: (714) 731-0885