Ruby Payne Swango

Ruby Payne-Swango, age 92, relocated to Heaven Saturday March 19, 2016 at the Mercy ICU in Springfield, Mo. after suffering multiple injuries in a head-on car crash in her home town of Springdale, Ark. She was born July 18, 1923 in Mulhall, Okla., the daughter of Joseph Linville Payne originally from Pawnee, Mo. and Erma Cliff Frazier from Prairie City, Iowa. She is survived by her son, Larry Moore and wife Marcia, stepson, Steven Swango and wife Kaye, and grandson Christopher Moore. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Irene, and two brothers, Keith Payne of Guthrie, Okla. and Howard Payne from Gillette, Wyo. Ruby attended the Wesley School of nursing in Oklahoma City to become a registered nurse (RN). She was also a member of the Nurses Cadet Corps in preparation to work in the WWII effort. Upon graduation, the war ended so she decided to pursue a career with the Veterans Administration and started working at the VA hospital in Muskogee, Okla. from 1945 to 1953. During this time she met a patient named Kenneth Moore who she married March 4, 1949. Shortly afterwards they moved to Dallas where Ruby worked for the Dallas VA hospital and Kenneth operated service stations. In 1960 they divorced and Ruby moved to Springdale, AR where she worked at the VA hospital in Fayetteville until she retired. After that she did insurance physicals and met Roby Swango who she married in 1977 until his death in 2002. Ruby loved caring for people and said if she had it all to do over again, she would definitely still be a nurse. Apparently the Lord agreed, as many of her friends and relatives were led to her house to recuperate from numerous illnesses or accidents over the years. She continued to care for others with her nursing skills most of her life and loved them wonderfully. She said "Yes" to Jesus as a young girl but grew hungry for more of God in the late ‘60's which led to being baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1969. This encounter with God was transformational which motivated her to share Jesus more powerfully with her son and numerous others who she loved with acts of kindness and words of wisdom. Her greatest desire was for everyone to say "Yes" to Jesus so everyone could belong to the family of God and meet at the great reunion that lies ahead. Visitation will be Monday March 28th at 1 p.m. with service at 2 p.m. at Backstrom – Pyeatte Funeral Home, 2230 N. Thompson, Springdale, Ark. followed by burial at Bluff Cemetery. Flowers are welcome, living flowers or your favorite seeds are preferred but the greatest gift she prefers is for you to live with an open heart with our God, getting to know Him now and forever as written in John 17, verse 3.