Person of the Month: Catherine Hayes Swift

Catherine Hayes Swift is active in the Fairfield Bay area, serving as the director of the Community Education Center and is an historic preservation officer. (Mike Kemp photo)

City: Holley Mountain Airpark in Clinton.

Work: Director, Fairfield Bay Community Education Center; Fairfield Bay Historic Preservation Officer.

Community activities: Board of directors, Fairfield Bay Community Fund; member of Arkansas Dressage Society, Experimental Aircraft Association and Arkansas Archeological Society; and Faulkner County Animal Response Team leader.

Church activities: Member, St Jude Catholic Church.

Family: Husband of 26 years, Harvey Swift, a retired Navy pilot, retired Southwest Airlines captain and experimental aircraft builder. Daughters in Texas, Nicolette Dacke and Bryanne Bell Arbuckle. Grandchildren, Adalyn and Aiden Arbuckle and Bryson and Benjamin Dacke.

Education: Associate of science in biology degree from Panama Canal College; bachelor of business administration (management information systems), master of science in curriculum and instruction, doctorate of education in higher education administration from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi; master’s diploma in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Next year, on my 60th birthday, I’ll qualify for free tuition at any public university in Arkansas. I think I might go back and study archeology.

Most enjoyed weekend activity: Grooming, training, riding and showing my three horses — a Dutch Warmblood mare, a Clydesdale/thoroughbred mare and a Percheron/Friesian gelding.

No. 1 vacation spot: Fairfield Bay for the Heritage Center and lake activities. Clinton for the Annual Chuckwagon Races.

Favorite place in Arkansas: My home and horse farm on Holley Mountain Airpark.

What do you love about living in the 501: After living in the hot, humid tropics of Panama for the first 25 years of my life, and the hot, humid climate of South Texas and Puerto Rico for the next 25 years, I love having the beauty of the four changing seasons in Arkansas. Each season has its own glory for a few months and then quickly passes on.