Margaret Swift

A Funeral Mass for Margaret Swift, 87, of Glen Ullin will be held at 11:00 am CT, Thursday, April 10, 2025 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Gary Benz celebrating. Burial will follow at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery.

Visitation for Margaret will be one hour prior to the service, with a rosary being said at 10:30 am CT.

Margaret Swift, 87, loving wife, mother, artist and entrepreneur, died March 30 in Glen Ullin, N.D., after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

Margaret Mary Gartner was born May 1, 1937 to George and Barbara (Loren) Gartner on their farm south of Hebron, N.D. She attended school in the rural Carson/Flasher, N.D., and area until 1949, when her family moved to Glen Ullin. She graduated from Glen Ullin High in 1955 and earned a teaching certificate from Black Hills Teachers College in Spearfish, S.D.

Margaret taught in one-room schoolhouses near Glen Ullin and Hebron and also at the Litchville (N.D.) School before marrying Virgil “Pat” Swift on Sept. 26, 1959. They lived on a ranch south of Glen Ullin for many years, where they raised their five children.

In the early 1970s while taking her daughter to art classes, Margaret became so interested that she also began taking lessons. This early love of art would bloom into a 45-year career.

By 1978, Swift opened her first business, The Art Shack, where she sold art supplies and gave lessons. She taught different art mediums and styles to students of all ages -- sometimes traveling as far as Colorado and South Dakota to do so. She also won numerous awards for her highly detailed, realistic style and expert use of color. Her work was selected to hang in the North Dakota Governor’s Mansion and she was named 2007 Citation Award Winner by the Bismarck Arts and Galleries Association.

In 1997, Swift, an excellent cook and hostess, opened the Rock Roof Inn Bed and Breakfast in the Swift home. Over the years, the Swifts provided lodging for guests from all over the country, as well as from China, England, Russia and Australia.

When Swift was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019, her family feared the 82-year-old would never make it. After she beat the disease, Mayo surgeons declared her a miracle.

She continued to run the inn until fall 2023, after learning the cancer had returned. Through it all, Swift’s faith and spirit never wavered. She found great comfort from weekly Mass and reading her devotionals as well as from spending time with her family. Swift’s gentle strength, steadfast integrity, tireless work ethic and creative talent won’t be forgotten.

She is survived by husband, Virgil; her children, Sandy (Rob) Gerving of Glen Ullin, Terri (Mike) Tyree of North Ft. Myers, Fla., Connie (John) Bailey of Lakeland, Fla., Tammy (Randy) Swift Shone of West Fargo, Gary (Karen) Swift, Bismarck; four grandchildren, Eric Gerving of Bismarck, Sara (James) Farrell of Glen Ullin, Kari (Daniel) Schaaf of Hebron, N.D., Courtney Bailey of Oxford, Miss; nine great-grandchildren; and one brother, George Gartner, of Billings, Mont; and sisters,-in-law, Avis Halpern and Ethel Flynn both of Glen Ullin.

If desired, donations can be made in her honor to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, at

 https://secure.pancan.org/site/TR?px=3829903&fr_id=2443&pg=personal