Barbara Jan Swain

Barbara Jan Swain passed away peacefully at home on May 18, 2026 at the age of 74. She was born in Wichita, KS on April 20, 1952 to Laurence and Viola (Bauer) Underwood. Growing up in Wichita, she attended Kistler Elementary, Brooks Junior High and Heights High School. In 1973, she graduated with honors with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education at Wichita State University, where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. Shortly after graduation she married Roger Carvalho, lived and worked in Wichita, Montana, Michigan and Nebraska and began raising their two sons, Kelly and Nick.

Newly single in 1991, Barb was introduced to Woody Swain, also newly single, through mutual friends. Their relationship grew ever closer from there, and they were married on June 19, 1993 in Wichita. In addition to raising Kelly and Nick, she became a step mother to Emily and Dell Swain. Together, the family of six enjoyed vacations to Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, and California. Barb enjoyed working as a paraprofessional for USD 259 at Washington Elementary School for 17 years before retiring in 2013.

After retirement, she enjoyed volunteering at the Kansas Food Bank and Rockwell Branch Library, staying engaged with family and friends, flower gardening, reading, Sudoku, yoga, watching British TV detective series, and looking after her series of pets - Toby, Cubby and Annie. She and Woody traveled to Mexico and Brazil as part of his work, and to England and Thailand as her son Kelly ventured overseas for school and, ultimately, marriage.

In addition to her husband, Barb is survived by her sons Kelly (Kim) Carvalho of Chiang Mai, Thailand and Nicholas Carvalho of Wichita and her step-daughter Dell (Chris) Villa of St. Louis, eight grandchildren, one great grandson, her brother Randy (Mary) Underwood and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and her step-daughter Emily.

Barb’s memorial service will be held on Tuesday, June 9, at 2:00pm at St. James Episcopal Church, 3750 E. Douglas in Wichita, and it will be livestreamed and recorded on YouTube. Please send all desired flowers to the church as Resthaven is not involved with the church service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the Wichita Animal Action League (waalrescue.org) or Wichita Library Foundation (wichitalibraryfoundation.org).