Welcome! Thursday, May 8, 2025 | Login | Register
   
Wanda McSwain

Wanda McSwain passed peacefully at her Durham, NC home on March 1, 2024.

She was preceded in death by her husband Mal (d. Sept 29, 2022). The McSwains' doctor in Durham, a friend of over twenty years, recently described Wanda as "surely one of the greatest Christian women who has ever lived." Wanda would find such a comment laughable, but those who have known her would struggle to find the exaggeration.

Wanda Jean Farley was born and raised in Zion, Illinois. At Wheaton College she joined the Young Life movement, and after graduation she attended the Young Life Institute in Colorado Springs. There Wanda met the man who would be her lifelong partner. For almost sixty-five years of marriage, Mal and Wanda were an extraordinary team of love and ministry that modeled faithful friendship with Christ and others. Thousands were impacted by their "ministry of accompaniment," especially in Charlotte and in Atlanta, where they lived for fifty years before moving to Durham in 2016.

In Atlanta, Wanda started a women's jail ministry and was for a time the lead teacher for Community Bible Study. Her creativity shone through sewing, interior decorating, and her years as a successful greeting card rep. She took great joy in curating her beautiful booths at the Atlanta Gift Mart and welcoming visitors.

Wanda's greatness was found not in status or attainments, but in her ability to engage with all kinds of people at intimate and soulful levels. Her prayerful intuition, coupled with a keen listening ear, was renowned. Wanda's faith in the power of God was evident in the way she lived out a favorite verse "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jer 33:3). Having witnessed many mighty things of God, Wanda's Kingdom vision knew no bounds; it's no surprise that along with the verse she would often invoke John Newton's hymn, "Thou are art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much."

Wanda lived in constant amazement at the Lord's works of grace in her life and in the lives of others. Most noteworthy was Wanda's tender, unconditional love of her two children and seven grandchildren, in whom she instilled a deep appreciation for the beauty and grandeur of God's creation. To them, "Mimi" will always be the president of what she coined God's Beautiful World Club. Wanda's fierce fortitude was clearly displayed in her loyalty to family and friends, not to mention through her physical endurance despite cancer and heart surgeries.

After nursing Mal through his long illness and painfully suffering his death, Wanda continued to draw from her deep well of God's Spirit to pour forth hospitality, prayer, and compassion on anyone with whom she crossed paths in and out of her apartment. Wanda's way with people was an art form of rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. Her warm self-effacing humor derived from a heavenly perspective which allowed her to be fully present with others in this world while at the same time holding this world loosely.

One of Wanda's most steadfast values was gratitude; she "gave thanks in all things!" Before falling asleep for the last time she smiled and said, "I'm glad I know the King and that he's been my friend all these years. I'm so thankful."

In lieu of flowers, Wanda requested that all tax-deductible gifts should be directed to her passion
project, "The Glen." See details at experiencereality.org.

A celebration of Wanda's life will be held on Saturday, March 16th at 1 PM at The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Shelby, NC. Check back here for live-streaming information.

Online condolences may be made at www.cecilmburtonfuneralhome.com

Cecil M. Burton Funeral Home & Crematory is compassionately serving the McSwain family.


Printer-friendly format