Charles "Chip" Amory Swann

How I’ve lived my life: as a hard-working honest person which I learned from my father and grandfather growing up in the hardware business in Blackstone Virginia.

My earliest ambition was to be an airline pilot but that never came to be but I did obtain my pilots license at the age of 19.

Things that make me laugh have been my five golden retrievers I have owned throughout my life. And the music of Jimmy Buffet.

My proudest family moments were attending my adoptive mom and dads 50th wedding anniversary. I was adopted at birth and I located my birth Mom Bettie Stowe West 22 years ago in 2002. We have built a great relationship and I gained two ½ brothers Ed and Bob West and a ½ sister Nancy Goff. My adoptive parents had a natural child my sister Sarah and an adopted child my sister Martha. My wife Mary and my Five Golden retrievers I have owned.

My proudest career accomplishments were owning my own construction company at age of 24 in Richmond VA, after 10 years I sold my half to my partner. I moved to Fort Myers Florida in my 40’s and starting my own construction company there. That completed my career.

I hope others have learned from me to work hard, be honest with everyone, be fair and kind. Pilot's license at 19, Coast Guard Captain's license at 28, Virginia State Contractors license at 23, Florida certified Builders Contractor’s license Remodeling Magazine award for being one of top 500 contractors in the US for volume, won several times. PGT Gold star dealer for sales. Participated and donated funds for the Head and Neck Cancer Walk for several years in Florida.

Hobbies were scuba diving, snow skiing, fishing sailing and boating. Favorite songs Bubbles Up and Pirate looks at 40 by Jimmy Buffett, Southern Cross by Crosby Stills Nash and Young.

I’d like to be remembered as "I know leaving this world I have touched several people’s lives that has brought prosperity to them and changed their lives. There is nothing better than knowing you have helped someone to have a better life."

I also want my good friends to know how much I have enjoyed our time and life together and also all the good people I have met in Fairfield Harbor and New Bern since I moved here.

Chip is predeceased by his parents William and Inez Swann and grandparents, Charlie and Nellie Bevelle and Samuel and Mabel Swann.

Surviving is his wife, Mary Swann; his birth mother, Bettie Stowe West; children, Jennifer Holcomb (Wayne), Kara Strain (Francis) and Ashley Swann Gallison (Joshua); siblings, Martha Southall (Darrel), Sarah Holland (Tom), Bob West, Edward West (Marjorie) and Nancy Goff (Lee), grandchildren, Kai Strain, Jaylynn Strain, Adriana Gallison and Gabriella Gallison.

A celebration of life will be held 1:00pm Saturday, February 15, 2025, at Cotten Funeral Home.

Memorials in Chip's memory can be made to: https://spohnc.org/ or to The Golden Retriever rescue in Florida at https://grrswfl.rescuegroups.org