Allie
Swafford was born May 30, 1909, in Bogata, Texas, the daughter of James N. and
Bennie C. Barrow.Allie
Swafford was born May 30, 1909, in Bogata, Texas, the daughter of James N. and
Bennie C. Barrow.
She and Jake Rudd Swafford were married September 1, 1945, in Jefferson County, Texas. They made their home in Port Arthur, Texas. Jake passed away December 5, 1981. Even though Allie and Jake had no children of their own, she loved the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of her sisters.
Allie joined the Gulf Coast Daylily Society in 1960, and was a member of that club until her death. She was very active in the club and served in many club offices over the years.
Allie became an American Hemerocallis Society Garden Judge and inspired many people with the joy of daylilies, especially her Port Arthur neighbor, Margaret Jones. They were completely different in stature and interests, but they became the closest of friends. Allie was very short and Margaret was very tall.
Allie was friends with Nell Crandall of Houston, Texas, when Nell was becoming interested in spider daylilies. Nell saw a large red spider daylily in Allie's yard and convinced Allie to let her register it. It was registered as Hemerocallis 'Gulf Coast Red' (Swafford, 1987). Although Allie hybridized daylilies for many years and her garden was full of her seedlings, this was the only daylily she ever registered.
In 1991, when Allie moved to Bogata, Texas, from Port Arthur, to be near the families of her sisters, she transported most of her daylily collection and many of the beautiful perennials she had collected. Bogata is about 30 miles from Paris, Texas. She joined the East Texas Daylily Society and was very active in that club.
In 2002, the Gulf Coast Daylily Society replaced their flower show Silver Trophy for best overall seedling with the Allie Swafford Award.
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