Obit – Mrs. Jimmye Lou Litchford Swafford
The children of Mrs. Jimmye Lou Litchford Swafford were at their mother’s bedside and were ready for the Lord to call her home.
The 93-year-old Rock City Community resident, Mrs. Jimmye Lou Litchford-Swafford, was pronounced deceased at 5:26 p.m. Thursday evening May 21, 2026 at the Highpoint – Health Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin where she was admitted May 13th and was under the care of Highpoint Hospice.
A memorial service to celebrate her life was held on Saturday afternoon May 30th at 3 p.m. from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home. Her pastor of almost forty-one years, Eld Junior Dickerson, officiated and Jessica Shanks read the obituary and delivered the eulogy. Jerry Shanks and Paige Bowman sang in honor of Mrs. Jimmye Lou. A private interment for the family was conducted and she was to be laid to rest beside her husband Thomas in the Litchford Family Cemetery on Beechboard Lane in the Popes Hill Community.
The Litchford-Swafford family received friends only on Saturday May 30th at Sanderson in Carthage from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.
Born Jimmye Lou Bellar in the Club Springs Community on December 23, 1932, she was one of seven children of the late James Herschel Bellar who died August 27, 1966 at the age of 77 and Ova Davis Russell Bellar who died May 10, 1970 at the age of 78.
Mrs. Jimmye Lou, the mother of five daughters and three sons, suffered the loss of three children, Ricky Lee Litchford who died March 13, 2008 at the age of 52, Mickey Dale Litchford who died December 2, 2016 at the age of 63 and Patty Michelle Litchford Rodgers who died February 26, 2026 at the age of 56.
Mrs. Jimmye Lou was a member of the 1950 graduating class at Gordonsville High School.
Mrs. Jimmye Lou married Harold Thomas Litchford on September 16, 1950 and they had eight children together, He preceded her in death at the age of 68 on February 1, 1996 following forty-five years of marriage.
On May 7, 1997, she married William Abbott (Billy) Swafford. He preceded her in death on July 29, 2010 at the age of 78 following thirteen years of marriage.
Mrs. Swafford was retired from a long career with Robertshaw Industries.
She was a longtime devoted member of the Plunketts Creek Missionary Baptist Church in the Rock City Community.
Surviving are her five children, Tommy Litchford, Annette Litchford Dies and husband Andrew, Jackie Litchford Underwood and husband Jesse all of the Rock City Community; Linda Litchford Brewington and husband Martin of the Grant Community, Gail Litchford Dies of the Auburntown Community; sister, 99-year-old Mrs. Edwina Bellar Morris of Lebanon; twenty-six grandchildren, sixty-one great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren.
SANDERSON of CARTHAGE
