A Daughter’s Father’s Day Tribute To A Quiet Hero

You can hear kids in the background, street noise drifting up, and the calm of someone choosing honesty over polish. I’m sitting on my balcony on purpose, because Father’s Day and grief  don’t arrive in a studio, they show up in real life. And today I’m speaking to the dads who do it right, the fathers who stay, provide, protect, and love their families with consistency. 

I talk about my own dad, Charlie  Swarn, a quiet man with deep strength, a veteran who loved music by Chicago, & baseball on the radio, and Bonanza on television. I share the small memories that keep him close and the big ones that define what a good father looks like: being there for my mom, being there for his kids, and giving with no strings attached. I also open up about how he insisted on paying our rent and helping with bills even when we were grown, and how that support became part of our family legacy and the work we poured back into helping the church and  our community. 

The hardest part is revisiting 2007, the hospital, and the moment my sister and I knelt beside his bed to pray as tears ran down his face. It’s a story about end-of-life faith, unconditional love, and the urgency of saying what matters while you still can. If you’re searching for a Father’s Day podcast, a heartfelt tribute to a good dad, or a conversation about loss, family, and remembrance, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the lesson you learned from a great father figure.

Music

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Transcript

Raw Balcony Intro And Purpose

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey there, I'm Regina Sworn. Welcome back to another episode of Regina Sworn audio series presents. I'm gonna keep this as raw and real as I can keep it. You know, one thing about my dad that I loved so much about him, he liked keeping things real. So I decided to sit outside with all the noise around me. Um kids playing in the street, well they're not in the street, but you can see the few kids. Um I decided to sit right here on my balcony. Now I'm gonna tell you right up front, you're gonna hear some noises, and it's okay. I'm keeping this one real for real. I want uh to talk about the fathers, and I particularly want to talk about my wonderful dad. You know, too often dads get a bat rap because of the bad dads, there are a lot of bad dads. Let's face that. There are a lot of people around here that's not a dad, they're not a father, no, not they're not any of those things. You know, they they don't take care of the kids, or they don't have a relationship with their kids. So this podcast is not for those those type dads, okay? They're not. This podcast is for those wonderful, wonderful dads who's always there for their kids when they need them, you know. And I'm gonna speak briefly about my own dad. But for those of great fathers out there, happy father's day, happy, happy daddy's day, happy father's day to all those wonderful dads. Because I know there are a lot of a lot of dads out there who love their family, who love their kids, love their wife, you know, there are a lot of dads out there like that. So to you, for you, for you and to you, I say happy, happy Father's Day. Yay! Hope you're doing something great. I hope those the the kids in the family is doing something really wonderful with you today, dads. And if your dad is is uh gone, passed away, this also this is also for you, because my dad passed away in 2007, and not a day that goes by that I don't think of him. I miss him every single day. Oh my god, just thinking about him right now makes me want to cry. So I'm gonna try to keep myself together as I speak about my dad. But again, happy Father's

Good Dads Deserve Recognition

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Day, daddies, fathers, dads, someone see you. Yeah, you know, sometimes we put a lot of a lot of um energy and we put a lot towards Mother's Day because Mother's Day is the second almost like a holiday right behind Christmas. And uh, and that's very important because mothers are important. But let's not forget those dads out there because they're like I say, there are good dads out there. There are great dads out there who who's there for their kids, who's there for their children, who's there for this wife and for the family. You got you got dads like that. So today let's not forget the good dads. Because there are good dads, guys. There are good dads. Happy Father's Day, happy daddy's day. Whichever one you want to go with, I'm just gonna say it happy, happy, happy. Now I do want to talk about my dad. He was a big fan of the band Chicago, he loved their music, and as a kid, you know, he even as a teenager, I would hear him play these different songs by Chicago, and I'm like, ooh, I like that, you know. So one of his favorite songs, I remember him telling me back in the late 80s. And you hear that just you and me by Chicago. Oh my god, my dad loved that song. And one day he loved baseball so much, and one day he was sitting out on his in the front of his yard listening to baseball because he he liked listening to baseball instead of watching it on TV. But I heard this song, he was playing this song, I never forget it. I think it was somewhere like 1988. Um, he was playing his his band music, um, Chicago. And I said, Daddy, I like that. I immediately knew, I was like, that's Chicago, my god. And uh he said, Yeah, I love Chicago, loves bands. So um, you have to turn it now. But he was a big fan of Chicago and he loved the band, and I just remember it in the late, late 80s. That's an old song, but my dad he he played like old music, so I did too. So he would play play that song and just bless my spirit, bless my heart. You know my dad was a quiet man. He was a man of n not many words, you mean he he he was a man very quiet, but one of those type men that you know not to mess with, but at the same time you know that he he wouldn't hurt a fly. And I miss him so much because he was there for our family, for the sworn family. He was there for my mom, you know, and for me and my brothers and sisters. My dad was there all the time, always there. And to be honest with you, I totally miss him. I miss him, I miss having him being able to come up to him and ask questions. Cause my sister Laura, who's also passed away, we would go to my dad and we'd just talk, you know, just sit out on in the yard for or sit in his house for just hours just talking about his life and things in his life, and and again, I said like I said, I'm gonna keep referring back to I know that there are dads out there who are not good who don't support the kids. But there are dads out there just like my daddy, Mr. Charlie Sworn. He uh served in the army, and uh so yeah, he he he was a veteran guy. He had a military funeral too, by the way. But um I think the thing things I miss most about my dad is just being able to sit in his living room, you know, with my mom in the living room, just sit in there and talk with my dad. Um he loved cooking, so he would be cooking and and we'd just come and sit and talk. I mean, for hours. A lot of people don't know this. Uh he would call my sister Laura, the two of us, he would call us his babies.

Music And Baseball Memories

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Even when we got our our own apartment, my dad would he insisted on paying the rent. And we were like, Dad, we got it, we got this, you know. But he insisted on paying the rent. They stayed across. My mom and dad stayed across from um from me and my my sister, Laura and I. My mom and dad stayed across from us. So my dad insisted on paying the rent, you know. He and we would beg him. We were like, Dad, please, we we got this, we got this, but he insisted on paying the rent and paying half of our bills. So what we would do, uh, Laura and I worked at the school, we would get paid and get our money, and we would let him think he paid the rent. But all the time we were just saving that money when he would pay our rent and said, I want you to take this to pay your rent, and take this to pay this bill, this, that bill. What we did was we took that money and we put it up, we put it aside. Um, we a lot of times would use it um for programs and concerts and things that we did at the church. So my dad was responsible for everything that we did. The sworn sisters celebration on behalf of Prophet Mother A. B. Jackson. My dad was a part of all of that. My pastor being on the radio, my dad was responsible for each and every one of those radio shows. So he was just there. He he wanted to pay our bills, but what he don't know, the same money he gave he would give us, we take that money and put it back into the things that we were doing, like the radio, uh having my pastor on radio and things like that. So we would take that money and put it to good use. I think one of the other things that I miss about my dad, other than sitting and talking with him for hours. Oh, and he turned me on to uh bonanza when he was a little girl. My dad, he his favorite show was Bonanza. Even when he was in the hospital um before he passed away, he wanted to know it was there in stations that had bonanza on. But I think the thing I miss most about my dad is that feeling of having someone love you unconditionally. Um I call my dad a man after my own heart because of the way that he treated our mother with love, respect. He wasn't one of those guys who was cheating on his wife or or left his kids or take another woman over his kids. No, no, they did have their times. You know, they had their no marriage is perfect, I wouldn't say that. But even with the struggles in the marriage, even with the things that my mom and dad went through, somehow they figured it out. They didn't just throw their hands up and say, Okay, I don't want to be here anymore. I see that a lot today. I see a lot of men just leave their families for whatever reason, and the kids for whatever reason. Any problem that my mom and dad had, they figured it out. You know, they worked it out. And I just have to give that that man a a perfect score of the greatest man right behind God, a man after my own heart, my own dad, because he loved unconditionally. And I remember him talking to my sister, my sister Laura, after we recorded our first record. I remember him sitting down speaking with us, and he said, I'm so proud of you too. I'm proud of you because you know, we always wanted to know why. Why are you proud of us that? He said, I'm proud of you because you never loved me. You never left. You're grown, you you're you're girls that can be out married and with kids and and stuff like that. He said, You could be doing that, but

A Quiet Father Who Showed Up

SPEAKER_01 11:55

instead you're here with me and mama, because he called they called each other mama and daddy. Daddy would call my dad would call my mom, mama, and my mom would call me dad, daddy. He said, You never left us. He said, You you've been here helping us pay our bills, and and you're always there for us. And he said, to answer your question, why I want to pay your rent, why I want to do all these things for you, because you two girls, Laura, my sister Laura, he said you never, you never married out, you could have been gone a long time ago. He said, But you say he said you stayed. And true enough, I mean, we could have married out, we could have got married and had kids and whatever, but we we chose to stay with our mom and dad. And in 2007, when my dad got sick, and we remember taking him to the hospital, and my sister, what we did was we we took a leave leave on our job, you know. I forgot what you call it, FMLA or whatever you call it. We had to take time off of our job, you know, to care for my my dad, our father. So we took time off of our job uh when my dad got sick in 2007. It was such a sad time, you know, because for some reason I knew that I was like thinking to myself, Lori and I looked at each other, we said, This is the end. This is the end. But I'll never forget the day that we knelt down beside my dad's bed. My dad wasn't the type of man who went around and was he loved God, but he hadn't accepted Christ in his life yet. So the last weekend of his life on that Friday, I would never forget the songs I live. My sister Laura knelt down on one side of his bed, she was on one side of his hospital bed, and I was on the other. We reached across each each other and held each other's hands, Laura and me. I and we prayed the sinner's prayer with my dad. And we asked God to save his soul. And we asked my dad to accept Christ in his life. And um, he wasn't talking very much, but tears would flow down his face. And we said, as we prayed the sinner's prayer. We said we looked at him with those tears just flowing down his face.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

And we said, Daddy, to accept Christ. And he shook his head, yes. And my sister and I, Laura, we we held each other's hands. I'm sorry. We held each other's hands and we were crying. And we knew at that point my dad had accept a Christ into his life.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

He accept a Christ.

Rent Money Turned Into A Legacy

SPEAKER_00 15:22

And um we were so glad that he had said a Christ into his life.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

We were just really glad about it. So that Friday and that was in the evening time. On that Saturday, he uh Lori and I had went home to take a shower and changed clothes or whatever, so we had stayed at the hospital, but we um on that Sunday he called, he's I mean the nurse called saying he wants you guys at the hospital, he needs you guys to come here. And my my my um brother-in-law, Zari Juhart, loved him, I loved that man too. He was there at the hospital with our dad. Thank God. So, um we went back down to the hospital and on that Sunday, April 29th, 2007, my dad passed away. And I'll never forget it. Um I was thinking how we prayed with him on that Friday and how he accepted the Lord in his life. So I felt confident knowing that he all those years, you know, he he he loved us, but he had never accepted Christ, but on his deathbed. I thank God for giving him a chance to accept him in his life. And he did, and less than two days later, he passed away. So I'm here to say, every dad is not a bad dad, every father is not a bad father. You got some really great dads out there, really great dads, who are some are acting as the dad and the mom. Now again, this podcast is not this topic is not for those. Sorry, this is not for those who don't treat their families right. This podcast is not for those. This topic is not for those who are not there for their families. It's for my dad. Dads like my dad, who love their family again. And I want to say happy Father's Day to all of you. I miss my dad so much. So many memories flood my mind right now. They flood my mind. I think of how we would we lived across the street from my mom and dad, so when we get home at night we worked at the school. Laura, my sister Laura, we worked at the school and my dad would be you can see the light on and hit in their their apartment across from us. When we got home and got in that house safely. Then my dad light went out, he turned the light off. And at that point he was saying, My girls are home, my babies. He caught us his baby. We were grown women, he called us to the end of his life. He said, My babies. I'm just here to tell you out there. If you got a good dad if you got a good dad and a good mother, please respect

Marriage Work And Unconditional Love

SPEAKER_01 18:55

them. Please love them. They're not gonna always be here with you. Please love your dad. Please respect your dad. I hear of people fighting their fathers and wanting to fight and do bad things and you gotta reap what you sow. If you are not if you got a good dad and you're not doing the things you should do, you reap what you sow in your life when you become an adult. So love on your dad today. If you got a good dad, a good father, love on him, not just today, but all the time. Love your father, love your dad. Because again, you're not gonna always have them. True, some of the kids die before the the the dad or the mom. But a lot of times you live. A lot of times we live. And I miss my dad so much. I miss him. I miss him. I miss him. I miss him so much. He taught he taught me so much. He taught Laura so much. He was a quiet man, the quiet man. But he had a lot of power. And today I want to say happy day. Happy Father's Day again to all the dads out there. Happy Father's Day. Don't know what you're doing with your dad. I hope it's something great. If your dad is going to be with the Lord. If you like going to the gravesite, go visit the grave or what happy, go do that. But um Yeah. Love your friend love your father. Love your mother. Love them because they're not gonna always be with you. My dad was just a special man. How many dads? Sorry, how many dads out there would continue to pay your bills? And I know there are dads out there like that. He continued to pay our bills. He didn't throw us out. They wanted us to stay with them. And my sister Laura and I stayed there as long as we could, then we decided we we we got to at least get us an apartment. Okay, we can still care for you, but we gotta get an apartment. So, you know, we got our our apartment, like I said, across the street from mom and dad. But if you got a good dad out there today, love, love, love them. This is daddy's day. Father's Day meant just as much to my sister Lori and I than Mother's Day. We treated Father's Day like it was my dad's birthday. We'd get a cake and do a lot of things. So Father's Day was important to us. So if you got a dad out there, shower that man with love. If he loves you, he's a good

Hospital Goodbye And A Final Prayer

SPEAKER_01 22:05

dad. Shower that man with love. If he's a good dad, you hear what I'm saying? If he's a good dad, and he's been there for you, shower him with all the love that you can give. All the love inside of you. Shower him with love. Happy Father again to all those great dads out there. I see you. I see you. I see a lot of great dads. Happy Father's Day. And to my wonderful, beautiful Father in Heaven. Happy Father's Day to you, Dad. I know you went on to be with the Lord, but happy, happy Dad's Day. Happy Father's Day to you. You are great, great, greatly missed. And as I make this recording, of course, my sister Laura is Laura is gone to be with the Lord as well. Our mom is gone to be with the Lord. Our beloved pastor is gone to be with the Lord. All the people that I care so deeply about who I was closest to. And I know a lot of people like to say she only talked about her mommy dad, her mother Jackson, and her sister Laura. Guys, because uh they were there for me. Those are the years that I remember best. Those are the years I remember. Those are the ones I was closest to. So I had to say that. Hmm. Thank you, thank you, thank you for listening. I Regina Swaren. Contact me at Swaren Regina at gmail.com. Please guys, business only. Visit my official website, ReginaSworn.com. This Father's Day I went to do something special for my dad in heaven, and for any loved ones around me, I'm just gonna cook a really nice dinner and um just relax a little bit and just do well on those reminisc about the good times. Thanks for listening. I didn't go too long, did I? 25 minutes. Thank you so much for listening. May God bless each and every one of those great fathers out there. Bless you, mm, bless you, mm, bless you, mm. Happy, happy Father's Day.