Argelia "Kela" Emma Gil Swift

Kela was born to Emilia Martinez Garcia and Hector Gil Saldivar in September 1936, in Monterrey, Mexico. Born to be a nurturer, she spent her youth in service to others, taking care of her grandmother and her siblings. In 1955, she met the love of her life, Alfred Robert Swift IV, when he was on a chance trip to Monterrey while stationed at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The couple were married June 8, 1957, in Monterey, Mexico, and moved to Houston, Texas to start a family. They were blessed with five children: Susan Kay Swift, Cynthia Lee Minchew, Elizabeth Swift Grimm, Alfred Mark Swift V, and Vanessa Dee Gionis.

Kela’s happiest and most fulfilling moments were found in providing love, comfort, and care for her large, loving family. She always put others before herself, loved a good joke (including a practical one), and was a constant source of positivity and light for everyone who encountered her. She loved music and dancing, socializing with her many close friends from the neighborhood, watching her favorite programs on television, and making her daily phone calls to her family and friends.

Kela is preceded in death by her husband, Alfred Robert Swift IV. They were married fifty-five years.

She is survived by: her siblings Horacio Gil, Yolanda Favarato, Hector Gil, Elsa Bertha Gil, and Olga Poplawski; her children Susan Swift and husband Eldon, Cynthia Minchew and her husband Randall, Elizabeth Grimm and her husband Scott, Alfred Swift V and his wife Ramana, and Vanessa Gionis and her husband Kyle; her grandchildren Susan Lee Minchew Yoder, Samantha Lee Minchew Dent, Alexander William Huble, Randall Clay Minchew, Presley DeeAnn Huble, Angelica Maria Heredia, Cassandra EmmaLee Minchew, Kayley Rose Huble, Alfred John Swift VI, Donovan Riley Gionis, and Isabella Violet Grimm; her great grandchildren Adah Grace Yoder, Roman Valor Dent, Jeriah Jace Yoder, Jaxon Alexander Huble, Rylen Vanessa Dent, Ridley Valentina Dent, Tyr Alfred Wolfgang Barnick, Randall Theodore Breckenridge Minchew, and Jettson Blake Huble.

Family, friends and others whose lives Kela touched are invited to a service in the chapel on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, at 10 am at Forest Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, at 12800 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77077. The graveside service will be held on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at 9:00 am at the same location.

Contributions in Mrs. Argelia Swift’s name may be made to St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church at www.sfds-houston.org/electronic-giving-1 or Primrose Hill Teen Challenge at www.primrosehilltc.com/donate