ROCHESTER - Ashley Nicole Swope, 23, died after a two-year battle with cancer on Jan. 4, 2009, in Defiance Area Inpatient Hospice Center, Defiance, Ohio.
She was born Feb. 26, 1985, in Peru, to Robert and Judith Swope.
Spending most of her life in Rochester, she was a member of First Baptist Church, Rochester, and recently attended First Church Of God, Defiance. In her youth she was a member of the Rochester Royals Swim Team. She was a 2003 Rochester High School graduate, where she was a member of the National Honor Society; a scholar athlete; featured in Who's Who among American High School Students; and a RHS mentor. She was a four-year member of the RHS choir program including the Women's Choir and Manitous; a four-year athletic trainer/manager for the football team as well as ladies basketball, the track team and the wrestling team along with being manager for the RHS Dance Team. She was a participant in Tri-Epsilon Drama Club, Key Club, Spanish Club, Chess Club and Jets.
Surviving are her parents, Robert and Lisa Swope, Rochester, and Judith Carr Parrott, Defiance; a son, Brandon Lee Swope; three brothers: John Swope, Rochester; Robert Bruder, Indianapolis; and Chase Swope, Defiance; grandparents, Floanna Swope, Beverly Jennings and Louis Pfeiffer, all of Rochester; and a great-grandmother, Alice Swope. She was preceded in death by four grandparents.
Services will be at 11 p.m. Friday at Good Family Funeral Home, Rochester, with Youth Pastor Joseph Helt officiating.
Calling is from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and one hour prior to service Friday at the funeral home.
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Memorials to the First Baptist Church Junior/Senior High Youth Group, Rochester, Ind.; Community Health Professionals, Defiance, Ohio; or the Brandon Swope Education Fund, c/o Teachers Credit Union, Rochester, Ind.
