Mildred Lucille Grafton Swift

Longtime Monroe residents are very familiar with the name Mildred Swift. She is synonymous with cooking in Monroe. I’d like to tell you a little about her life.

Mildred Lucille Grafton was born to Clara Glasgow and Henry Eugene Grafton near Ruston on November 2, 1899. After the break up of her parents’ marriage, she was raised by her maternal grandparents at Ruston. It was apparent from a very early age the “Domestic Sciences” were in her blood. Mildred’s obituary said she began her career as a high school teacher at Ouachita Parish High school at the age of 17! By the fall semester of school in 1918, she had been appointed head of “Domestic Science” at Simsboro High School. She was barely older than the teens she was educating! By the 1920s you can see in state papers Mildred teaching in different state high schools and appearing in social columns with her future husband Joseph Wright Swift. They made it official when the couple married in Ruston in 1923.

Mildred’s obituary states she received her Undergraduate and Graduate degrees at Louisiana Tech, but it does not state what years and what subject. I would guess it would be in Home Economics. By the 1930s she had left teaching to become a supervisor with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, now known as the FHA. You can see her in society columns of the time traveling all over the northeastern part of the state giving lectures and demonstrations. This is what prepared her for her future TV and radio appearances.

In 1951 she began writing a column for the Monroe Morning World called “The Home Shift”. In 1953 her KNOE TV show started called “Homemaker’s Show With Mrs. Mildred Swift”. It aired on Tuesdays at 2:45 pm in the afternoon for fifteen minutes. It wasn’t long before the program became “The Mildred Swift Show” and moved up to 1:30 pm. The show lasted until about 1975 when she finally retired. The program demonstrated recipes, canning tips and anything a housewife would need to know. In the background would always be an assistant named Mamie Shebon. The show was the highlight of every northeastern Louisiana housewife’s day! Children of that time fondly remember their mothers and grandmothers huddled around the TV to catch Mrs. Swift and Mrs. Shelbon!

Another thing Mrs. Swift is remembered for are her two cookbooks, “Looking at Cooking” and “More Looking at Cooking” published in the 1960’s. Almost every home had a copy of one or both of these recipe books and today they are prized more than gold! A lot of Monroe people can point out classic dishes served in their homes that came straight from those books!

Retirement didn’t stop Mrs. Swift. She would still tape a weekly show for KNOE and make public speaking engagements. Mrs. Swift passed away March 10, 1985 and is buried in Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery.