Barre Portrait and Oral History Project

Across Generations:
The Barre Portrait & Oral History Project
Barre High School Students Interview and Photograph Barre Elders
January-June 2008

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Dick Swift

“I was the oldest man in the
United States Army National Guard
in this country. . . and that ís a fact.”

Interviewed and photographed
by Corrina Thurston 2006

. . . After he retired at sixty-two, Dick Swift was a substitute teacher at seven different schools in Williamstown. Six years ago he became the full-time substitute at Barre Town Middle and Elementary School. He loves kids and believes that he is filling a “void” that has occurred between the young and the old. He teaches students about the history of everything that he has been through, especially the wars, such as World War II. . .
. . . Dick participated in the war as part of the occupation in Europe for twenty months sweeping ammunition mines. On a destroyer for two and a half years, he was a radioman. They swept the last of the German ammunition mines out of the water. He received some ribbons for his activities during these times, staying in the Navy until 1950, leaving only a couple weeks before the Korean War began.
. . .When Dick was talking about the way things “used to be” he had a sparkle in his eye and a grin on his face. He remembers the granite industry and farming as practically the only occupations anyone had. . . .
. . . Now, at the age of seventy-seven, Dick and his oldest grandson are superintendents of the sheep department at Orleans County. He owns a sheep farm here in Barre and has been showing them for the last twenty-five years. The sheep barn walls are plastered with ribbons that show their years of exceptional sheep.

The 2005/2006 Barre Portrait and Oral History Project
Sponsored by the Center for Photographic Studies with generous support from:
Chittenden Bank Card for Kids Program • AfterImage Photography • Allstate Insurance Company •
Barre Technical Center • Hull Printing • Trow & Holden • City of Montpelier Community Arts Fund •
Polaroid • Vermont Arts Council • National Endowment for the Arts

All events and exhibits are wheelchair accessible.

Dick Swift “I was the oldest man in the United States Army National Guard in this country. . . and that ís a fact.” Interviewed and photographed by Corrina Thurston 2006		. . . After he retired at sixty-two, Dick Swift was a substitute teacher at seven different schools in Williamstown. Six years ago he became the full-time substitute at Barre Town Middle and Elementary School. He loves kids and believes that he is filling a “void” that has occurred between the young and the old. He teaches students about the history of everything that he has been through, especially the wars, such as World War II. . . . . . Dick participated in the war as part of the occupation in Europe for twenty months sweeping ammunition mines. On a destroyer for two and a half years, he was a radioman. They swept the last of the German ammunition mines out of the water. He received some ribbons for his activities during these times, staying in the Navy until 1950, leaving only a couple weeks before the Korean War began. . . .When Dick was talking about the way things “used to be” he had a sparkle in his eye and a grin on his face. He remembers the granite industry and farming as practically the only occupations anyone had. . . . . . . Now, at the age of seventy-seven, Dick and his oldest grandson are superintendents of the sheep department at Orleans County. He owns a sheep farm here in Barre and has been showing them for the last twenty-five years. The sheep barn walls are plastered with ribbons that show their years of exceptional sheep.