Longtime Beaufort Water Festival volunteer Mikel Swinton dies

Mikel Swinton always seemed to be moving.

The Port Royal resident could often be seen around town pushing a lawn mower, riding his bicycle, or volunteering his time.

Swinton, a longtime Beaufort Water Festival volunteer and advocate for others like him with special needs, died Friday at Beaufort Memorial Hospital after a bout with cancer. He was 61.

Swinton had volunteered more than 30 years with the Water Festival.

“That’s his heart, the Water Festival,” said longtime Port Royal Mayor Sam Murray, who lived around the corner from Swinton and served as his caretaker the past 30 years. “He gained lifelong friends at the Water Festival.”

At the Water Festival, Swinton was a director in the parks department. He helped set up, keep the park clean, whatever was needed.

“Mikel was the kind of volunteer we had to force to take breaks,” 2015 Water Festival commodore Bill Damude said Tuesday. “’Hey, Mikel, you need to sit down and eat lunch and make sure you’re drinking fluids.’

“He was go, go, go.”

Swinton moved to Beaufort in 1979 as a client of Beaufort County Disabilities and Special Needs. He worked briefly for the city of Beaufort tending Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park before joining the Beaufort County School District.

He worked as the longtime janitor at Port Royal Elementary School before retiring in 2010 and successfully pushed for the town of Port Royal to hire others with special needs.

Swinton regularly appeared before Port Royal Town Council and other elected bodies to recognize Disabilities Awareness Month or to argue for bus service for those with special needs. He was a liaison to the state office for those with disabilities and special needs and traveled as an advocate to places like Florida, Indiana and Washington, D.C., Murray said.

At Swinton’s urging, Port Royal contracted with the Beaufort County office to employ workers to tend flower beds and clean up certain areas of the town. One of those workers is now a town employee in the public works department.

“He always wanted to make sure folks had as many opportunities as they could to work in the community,” Port Royal town manager Van Willis said. “And he was a pretty good example of what you can do, as somebody who got an opportunity for one of those jobs.”

Swinton was a member of Old Fort Baptist Church in Port Royal, where he served as an usher and helped park cars, Murray said.

A wake for Swinton will be held at Old Fort Baptist from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to Swinton’s obituary. A local funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Bethesda Christian Fellowship on St. Helena Island, and another service will be held for Swinton’s burial in McClellanville on Saturday.

In 1987, Swinton was able to move from Beaufort County Disabilities and Special Needs housing and buy his own home. He later received a home from Habitat from Humanity built by fellow Water Festival volunteers.

He lived on Old Shell Road, around the corner from Murray. The mayor made sure Swinton’s bills were paid, picked up medicine and handled other errands.

Swinton could reach Murray’s house by cutting through a neighbor’s backyard. When the men were out together in town, people always greeted Swinton, Murray said.

Swinton stayed busy walking around town with his mower, cutting lawns and raking leaves.

“He was always doing something,” Murray said.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Longtime Beaufort Water Festival volunteer Mikel Swinton dies."