Brothers Mark and Matt Swearengin will be making a presentation from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 29 at the Semple Family Museum of Native American Art on the Southeastern campus.
This is the second event of the 2025 Chautauqua Series held annually to highlight Oklahoma Heritage with special interest in Durant and Bryan County. The prior speaker was Greg Massey.
The presentation by the Swearengins will be “A Tale of Two Bryan County Families,” the Batchelors and the Swearengins. Rector and Flavia Swearengin and James and Virginia Batchelor were grandparents to Mark and Matt Swearengin.
Mark will be speaking on the history of these families and Matt will have an exhibit of some of the many photos he has taken of news events and places in the county.
Mark followed in his grandfather Rector’s footsteps, and he owns Swearengin Insurance, an agency founded by his grandfather in 1938. Mark first began working there in the summer of 1983 and he moved back to Durant in 1984 after earning a degree at the University of Wyoming.
Like his grandfather, Mark has been active in civic work during his entire career. He served as president and a state officer for the Durant Jaycees.
He has served twice as the president of the Durant Lions Club and was instrumental in the Lions hosting the Toys for Tots program which they have now done for more than 20 years. He’s been a board member of People First Industries for more than 30 years and was just elected to his 14th term as president. Mark is also the senior board member of First Texoma National Bank, having served in that role for 27 years.
Matt has been a writer and a photojournalist for 29 years in Bryan County and in 2024, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Press Association’s Quarter Century Club to honor those who have completed at least 25 years of service to Oklahoma newspapers for their dedication to the field of journalism. He has won many awards for writing and photography, including a first place this year for a sports photo. Last year, The Durant Lions Club chose Matt for their Citizen of the Year for his work in chronicling community events.
Mark and Matt’s late parents, Bob and B.L. Swearengin owned the Bryan County Star newspaper on Buffalo Street in Caddo in the 1970s, and Matt spent a lot of time at the newspaper office as a child. He attended Arkansas State University before moving back to Durant in 1991 and graduating from Southeastern in 1992.
This is a ticketed event and reservations for a small dinner with a wine bar are $35 and $25 for Chautauqua members.
Seating is limited and tickets can be reserved at sfm@se.edu or call 580-745-2046.