Polly Anna Swayze

Polly Anna Swayze (Brothers) was born to Inez Lillian Brothers (Whitney) and James R. Brothers in Chico, CA on August 11, 1931. She died on June 8, 2025, in Tucson, Arizona.

Polly spent much of her early childhood with her mother and her special-needs younger sister Dorothy in northern California and, for a treasured period, with her grandparents William Perry Morton Whitney and Emma Augusta Kattenhorn Whitney in Merrill, Oregon.

In 1939, Polly, Inez, and Dorothy traveled to Morton and later the Cedarville area in Washington with her stepfather Mathew Paul Rollins by walking through northern California and Oregon with a mule and a small herd of goats, camping along their route. They lived close to the land during those Great Depression and war years, and the hardships of that time helped Polly develop the grit, independence, and resilience that remained with her throughout her life.

Polly spent most of her adult life in Washington. She married Melvin James Swayze in 1949 in Satsop, Washington. They raised their four children on a small farm outside of Shelton. Polly was an explorer at heart. Periodically she gathered the kids to camp with friends at the ocean where she dug razor clams with ferocious speed. When the kids were older, she worked a variety of seasonal and part-time jobs.

In 1972, she and Melvin left Shelton and moved to Rockport to start a new chapter in life—as owners and managers of a bar and restaurant. Polly became something of a mother figure to the young people in the area who were trying to live a back-to-the-land lifestyle.

Polly and Mel decided to go their own ways in 1982. Polly found work in Dutch Harbor, Alaska intermittently over the next few years. After discovering that she didn’t like being seasick on fishing and crabbing ships, she switched to onshore cooking.

She met Dan Seiders in Alaska in 1982, a gentle and kind man, originally from Maine, who become her steadfast companion, sharing life and adventures with her.

Polly eventually moved to Seattle, bought a house, and went to work in a small factory. She adapted well to her first city-living experience, enjoying much that urban life had to offer.

In 1993, Polly and Dan purchased and managed an adult family home in Federal Way, Washington, providing around-the-clock care for seniors. They retired in 1998, sold their possessions, and headed to Arizona.

Polly was enchanted by Arizona’s blue skies and sunshine. In 2000, she and Dan purchased a home at the San Pedro Community in Benson. She loved the people and activities, especially the quilting club. In her retirement, she finally had the time to pursue other activities that she loved, including hiking with a local hiking club, sewing, knitting, and crocheting. In later life, she became the unofficial neighborhood gardener, regularly weeding many nearby yards into her 90s, partly out of a desire to avoid chemical spraying.

She also liked volunteering weekly at the local food bank, the Community Food Pantry of Benson, and especially loved the woman that she called “Boss Lady”, Najayyah Many Horses, who always looked after her.

Her love of exploration never waned. One of her favorite memories was of a trip that she and Dan made around the country in 2002 when she drove their Freightliner truck with trailer, visiting friends and meeting members of her father’s family in the southeast, some for the first time.

Another special trip was accompanying her good friends Donna and Gene Lindemoen on a tour of London and southern India in 2007. It was a dream come true for her to travel overseas and experience the diversity of the world’s humanity and cultures.

In the last couple of years of her life, Polly was lovingly tended to by care givers Jennifer Metzger and Anda Dillon of Senior Helpers and in the last few months by the team at Famiglia Amore in Tucson, Arizona.

Polly was preceded in death by her son Jerry Dean Swayze, her ex-husband Melvin James Swayze, her companion Daniel C. Seiders, her mother Inez Lillian Rollins, her father James R. Brothers, her sister Dorothy (Brothers) Rollins, her sister Adeline (Rollins) Bauer, and her daughter-in-law Cheryl Swayze (Barnes).

Polly is survived by her children: James Emory Swayze, Leahe Annette Swayze, Susan Swayze Motes, her granddaughters Kathryn Motes and Cammie Motes, and her great grandson James Olson. Polly is also survived by her brother John Rollins, her sister Augusta (Rollins) Miller, her brother Mathew Paul Rollins II, and her brother Perry Rollins.

Polly became gentler and funnier over time, even while not always recognizing her own humor. In essential ways though, she stayed true-to-form to the end—forthright, honest, and determined to never allow challenges to keep her down.