Obituaries

Duke Ellen Taylor Swinney - Updated

 

 

 
Due to weather the family of Duke Ellen Swinney postpone the graveside service until Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at Oaklawn Memorial Park, Center, Texas 

 

 

Duke Ellen Taylor Swinney, 71, passed away on February 6, 2017 in Conroe, Texas.  She was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on October 27, 1945 and grew up in Center, Texas. She graduated from Center High School in 1963. After receiving a BS degree from Stephen F. Austin State College, she continued postgraduate studies at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston to become a medical technologist.  Her career included working as bacteriologist for NASA in Houston during the years of early space travel and the moon landing.  She worked for many years as a medical technologist at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston.  Later she worked for Curtin Matheson Scientific in sales and then marketing as a product manager.  Her final career was as head of her own company Duke Ellen & Company Interior Design.  
 
Duke was a member of the Daughters of the Revolutionary War, an extremely talented pianist, and an avid gardener.  She is preceded in death by her husband, Norman Swinney of Sugarland, Texas , her parents Virgie Duke and Jay Wiley Taylor of Center, Texas, and her sister, Jaye Jean Stewart of Nacogdoches Texas.  Surviving relatives include her niece, Jan Colwell Dockendorf and husband, Bill Dockendorf of Asheville, North Carolina, and her nephew, John Colwell  and wife, Gail Colwell of Conroe, Texas, two great nephews, Jay Dockendorf of Brooklyn, New York and Grant Colwell of Conroe, Texas, and cousins, Ross Dunn of Houston and Carla Dunn of Portland, Oregon.
 
A memorial service will be held on Monday, February 13th at 2:30 pm at St. Martins Episcopal Church in Houston.  A graveside service will be held at Oaklawn Memorial Park Cemetery at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, February 14, 2017.  Memorial donations may be sent to St. Martins Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road, Houston, TX 77056-2199.
 
 
You may sign the online registry book at www.mangumfuneralhome.com
Services are under the direction of Mangum Funeral Home Center, Texas

 

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