Donald Matthew MCSWAIN3,4,1,2
18th Jun 19473,4,5,1,2 - 15th Nov 20104,7,1,2
Instructor, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Phillips County Community College
Life History
18th Jun 1947 |
Born in DeWitt, Arkansas, Arkansas.3,4,5,1,2 |
2007 |
Occupation Instructor, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Phillips County Community College.6 |
15th Nov 2010 |
Died in Cascoe, Arkansas, Arkansas.4,7,1,2 Boating Accident on Cook’s Lake in Casscoe |
17th Nov 2010 |
Buried in Cedarcrest Memorial Gardens, DeWitt, Arkansas County, Arkansas.1,2 |
Notes
- Don McSwain was an officer of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission from 1981.
Occupation 2007, Instructor, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Phillips County Community College
Birth 18 June 1947
-- George Oliver McSwain, email correspondence, January 2007
U.S. Public Records Index, Ancestry.com
Don M McSwain
Birth Jun 1947
Resident Dewitt and Casscoe, Arkansas County, Arkansas
U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1
Don M McSwain
Birth Date 18 Jun 1947
Residence DeWitt, AR
Donald McSwain became famous in wildlife management during his years of work with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission since 1981. Growing up close to the White River National Wildlife Refuge, he was involved in environmental management and conservation.
A huge duck preserve in Saskatchewan was named after him. A story at the time of his death gives details of his work and the honors he earned.
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Reported by: KARK 4 TV News
Tuesday, November 16 2010
A long-time Arkansas Game and Fish Commission employee has been found dead in an Arkansas County lake.
The body of Don McSwain, 63, was found late Monday afternoon at Cook’s Lake in Casscoe.
McSwain was manager of the Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cook’s Lake, a facility operated by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
His death, which appears to have been caused by a boating accident, is under investigation by AGFC wildlife officers and Arkansas State Police. Federal authorities also will be involved because McSwain was found on the White River National Wildlife Refuge, which is federal property.
McSwain was an AGFC employee for 29 years. He was a high school biology teacher before he joined the AGFC July 16, 1981. He became a wildlife officer four months later, and started managing the Cook’s Lake facility in Arkansas County July 11, 1999.
He was honored by Ducks Unlimited for his work with the Arkansas Greenwing Camp for youngsters ages 14-16 interested in conservation and waterfowl hunting. McSwain volunteered when the camp began by teaching firearm safety and waterfowl hunting ethics. DU named the Don McSwain Marsh, near Zelma, Saskatchewan, for him in 2007. It covers 99 acres of dense duck nesting cover, 36 acres of wetlands and 9 acres of native parkland.
McSwain also was involved in banding ruby-throated hummingbirds, which are plentiful because of the rich hardwood habitat around Cook’s Lake. He and Tana Beasley, education specialist at Cook’s Lake, banded more than 1,000 hummingbirds in 2009 as part of The Hummer Bird Study Group, a nonprofit that organizes banding stations. McSwain held Arkansas’s only master hummingbird banding permit, issued by the Department of the Interior.
-- http://arkansasmatters.com/search-fulltext?nxd_id=369757
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Potlatch center chief McSwain found dead
By John Worthen
Workers at the Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cook’s Lake near Casscoe shed tears and consoled one another Tuesday after the loss of a man whom they considered a boss, co-worker and friend.
-- Arkansas Online, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper, http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/nov/17/potlatch-center-chief-mcswain-found-dead-20101117/
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Man drowns at Cook’s Lake
Published:
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 11:59 AM CST
Don M. McSwain, 63, of Casscoe, drowned Monday at Cook’s Lake near Casscoe.
McSwain, the education program specialist at Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cook’s Lake, was apparently performing maintenance duties when he fell into the water and drowned. His body was found around 4:30 p.m. Monday by a co-worker.
Lt. Ron Staton of the Arkansas State Police said that the preliminary investigation revealed that McSwain had gone out in a boat to retrieve another boat. He said that there was “nothing to suggest” that the death was anything but an accident. He said that McSwain’s body had been sent to the Arkansas State Police crime laboratory to determine “the manner in which [McSwain] went into the water. We are hoping an autopsy will give us some answers.”
-- DeWitt (Arkansas) Era-Enterprise newspaper, http://www.dewitt-ee.com/articles/2010/11/17/news/doc4ce40271dfdea200440302.txt
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The following story provides additional perspective on Don's accident and his work.
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Arkansas News Bureau
Game and Fish manager found dead in lake
Posted on 16 November 2010
LITTLE ROCK - A longtime state Game and Fish Commission employee has died in an apparent boating accident, the state wildlife agency said today.
Don McSwain, manager of the Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cook’s Lake near Casscoe, was found dead in the lake Monday afternoon, the commission said.
McSwain’s death is under investigation by game and fish wildlife officers, the agency said.
Cook’s Lake is part of the White River National Wildlife Refuge. McSwain, 63, had managed the center since 1999 and was a 29-year employee of the Game and Fish commission. Previously, he taught high school biology.
Ducks Unlimited named the Don McSwain Marsh, near Zelma, Saskatchewan, in McSwain’s honor in 2007. DU also honored McSwain for his work with the Arkansas Greenwing Camp for youths.
McSwain held Arkansas’s only master hummingbird banding permit, issued by the Department of the Interior, AGFC said. He and Tana Beasley, education specialist at Cook’s Lake, banded more than 1,000 hummingbirds in 2009 as part of The Hummer Bird Study Group, a nonprofit that organizes banding stations.
-- Arkansas News, http://arkansasnews.com/2010/11/16/game-and-fish-manager-found-dead-in-lake/
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A full story appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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Potlatch center chief McSwain found dead
John Worthen
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Workers at the Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cook’s Lake near Casscoe shed tears and consoled one another Tuesday after the loss of a man whom they considered a boss, co-worker and friend.
Don McSwain, the center's manager, died late Monday afternoon while trying to load a boat onto a trailer, said Tana Beasley, an education specialist at the center. He was 63.
"We are all still in shock," said Beasley." "We just weren't ready for him to leave us."
A news release issued Tuesday afternoon by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which operates the center, said that McSwain's death appears to be accidental, though officials from that agency and the Arkansas State Police are investigating.
Federal authorities will also be involved because Cook's Lake is part of the White River Wildlife Refuge, which is federal property, said the release.
State police spokesman Bill Sadler said McSwain's body is currently at the state crime laboratory, and further information about his death is expected to be released after an autopsy. Sadler said it's not unusual for the state police to investigate a death when the cause isn't immediately known.
Beasley and others around her office speculated on Tuesday that McSwain may have had a heart attack and fell [sic] into the water.
"Or he might have just slipped," she said. We just don't know right now."
McSwain was well-known throughout the state's ornithological community for his work banding and counting hummingbirds. He and Beasley began banding the birds more than a year ago. The tedious process involves catching [the birds] and placing tiny metal bracelets about the size of a wristwatch knob on the birds' tiny legs.
They are then released back into the wild.
In 2009, slightly more than 17,000 ruby-throated hummingbirds were reportedly banded by 80 banding stations in North and South America. McSwain and Beasley accounted for about 8 percent of those banded birds -- significantly more than most.
They banded more than 1000 birds in 2009 alone.
McSwain, a game and fish employee for 29 years, Arkansas’s only master hummingbird banding permit, issued by the Department of the Interior, according to the news release.
He was a high school biology teacher before he joined the commission July 16, 1981. He became a wildlife officer four months later, and started managing the Cook’s Lake facility in Arkansas County July 11, 1999, the release said.
McSwain was honored by Ducks Unlimited for his work with the Arkansas Greenwing Camp for youngsters ages 14-16 interested in conservation and waterfowl hunting. He volunteered when the camp began by teaching firearm safety and waterfowl hunting ethics. Ducks Unlimited named the Don McSwain Marsh, near Zelma, Saskatchewan, for him in 2007. It covers 99 acres of dense duck nesting cover, 36 acres of wetlands and 9 acres of native parkland.
-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 17, 2010, p 2B, transcribed by Orville Boyd Jenkins
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Social Security Death Index
Don M. McSwain
Born 18 Jun 1947
Died 15 Nov 2010
SSN 431-90-6451 issued Arkansas (1964)
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Don M. McSwain Obituary
Don M. McSwain, 63, of Casscoe, died Nov. 15. He was born June 18, 1947, in DeWitt to Logan Morris and Daisy Vee Brown McSwain. He had been an enforcement officer with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and was currently the education program specialist at Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cooks Lake in Casscoe. His parents and two brothers, Russell McSwain and Larry McSwain, preceded him in death.
Survivors include his wife, Judy Allen McSwain; children, Donna Padgett and her husband, Lance, of Ethel and Mathew McSwain of DeWitt; two sisters, Ruth Patterson and her husband, Dan, and Marilyn Rousseau and her husband, David, of DeWitt; and two grandchildren, Sydnee Battle and Kassie Padgett. Others who were very special to him were Michael Burford and Star Clark.
Graveside services were held Nov. 17 at Cedarcrest Memorial Gardens in DeWitt by Essex Funeral Home of DeWitt.
-- DeWitt (Arkansas) Era-Enterprise newspaper, http://www.dewitt-ee.com/articles/2010/11/17/obituaries/doc4ce415760665e929303816.txt
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Don M McSwain
Birth Jun 18, 1947 De Witt, Arkansas County, Arkansas, USA
Death Nov 15, 2010 Casscoe, Arkansas County, Arkansas, USA
He was a longtime manager of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. He was found dead at age 63 on Nov. 15, 2010 as a result of an apparent boaing accident. The 29-year employee served at the Potlatch Conservation Education Center and researched ruby-throated hummingbirds. To honor his conservation work, Ducks Unlimited named a Saskatchewan marsh after him in 2007.
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[The memorial included the news story we post above about Don's various accomplishments and projects.]
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Don M. McSwain, 63, of Casscoe, died Nov. 15. He was born June 18, 1947, in DeWitt to Logan Morris and Daisy Vee Brown McSwain. He had been an enforcement officer with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and was currently the education program specialist at Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cooks Lake in Casscoe. His parents and two brothers, Russell McSwain and Larry McSwain, preceded him in death.
Survivors include his wife, Judy Allen McSwain; children, Donna Padgett and her husband, Lance, of Ethel and Mathew McSwain of DeWitt; two sisters, Ruth Patterson and her husband, Dan, and Marilyn Rousseau and her husband, David, of DeWitt; and two grandchildren, Sydnee Battle and Kassie Padgett. Others who were very special to him were Michael Burford and Star Clark.
Graveside services were held Nov. 17 at Cedarcrest Memorial Gardens in DeWitt, AR.
Burial Cedarcrest Memorial Gardens, De Witt, Arkansas County, Arkansas, USA
Created by Douglas Kirk Sorensen Nov 21, 2010
-- Find A Grave Memorial #61983182, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=61983182&ref=acom
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