Swirles Levi Himes (1907-1975)

Portrait from the 1954 Nornir yearbook, Hanover, Pennsylvania.

  Huntingdon, Pennsylvania yields another curiously named public figure in Swirles Levi Himes, an attorney in that borough who in 1953 was elected as Judge of the state court of common pleas for the 20th judicial district. Joining Chalender Hall Lesher and Loyal Dayne Daubenspeck (both former mayors of Huntingdon), one can see that this area cornered the market in the 1940s and 50s when it came to electing oddly named political figures! Born in the Huntingdon County borough of Shade Gap on February 8, 1907, Swirles Levi Himes was the son of Dr. Bower Edwin and Margaret (Swirles) Himes.

  Inheriting his unusual first name courtesy of his mother's maiden name, Swirles L. Himes attended high school in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania and later was a graduate of the Cumberland Valley State Normal School. Himes continued his higher education at the Juniata College, where in 1927 he earned a B.S. degree in education. After deciding to pursue a career in law, Himes enrolled at the Dickinson College's School of Law and earned his degree in 1931. In the same year as his graduation from Dickinson College Swirles Himes married to Orbisonia native Hazel Walls (1909-2001) and later had three children, Sarah Elizabeth, Sydney Swirles (1937-2015), and James E. 

  For a brief period following his marriage, Himes was a teacher at the Orbisonia High School and in 1932 established a law practice in Huntingdon. He continued with his practice until American involvement in WWII, and after enlisting in the Naval Reserves, was stationed in the Mediterranean as a legal officer. Himes' later war service saw him based stateside in Washington, D.C., where he was connected with the Naval Clemency Board. 

  After returning to his native Huntingdon, Himes recommenced with his law practice and by the time of his death in 1975 was acknowledged as the "Dean of the Huntingdon bar", having been a past president of the Huntingdon County Bar Association and a past member of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania State Bar Association. In addition to those posts, Himes attained prominent rank in the local Kiwanis Club chapter, serving as president of the Huntingdon chapter for an indeterminate period.

 

From the Huntingdon Daily Leader, May 16, 1953.

   In 1953 Swirles Himes entered into the primary race for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Pennsylvania's 20th judicial district, and on May 20th won that contest, having had the unusual distinction of being the "unanimous choice" of both the Republican and Democratic parties. He would win the general election that November for a ten-year term and was sworn into office in January 1954. Himes first term saw him devote special attention to the prevention of juvenile delinquency, establishing "one of the outstanding probation offices in Pennsylvania."  From 1957-58 Himes held the vice chairmanship of the National Juvenile Court Foundation and is noted as having:

"Founded the Huntingdon County Youth Guidence Council, which was active for many years during the development of a juvinile probation service."

   Reelected to another ten-year term as judge in 1963, Himes was named to the executive committee for the Pennsylvania Council of Juvenile Court Judges in September of the following year. Himes retired from the bench in 1968 to return to his law practice and a year after his retirement was honored by the Huntingdon County Bar Association for his fifteen-year tenure on the bench. He was further remarked as having had all of his decisions upheld by the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. 
   For the remainder of his life, Himes practiced law in Huntingdon, being the senior member of the firm Himes, Himes and Feltham. Swirles Levi Himes died at a Pittsburgh hospital on December 7, 1975, aged 68. He was survived by his wife and children and later was interred at the Riverview Cemetery in Huntingdon, the same resting place as that of Chalender Lesher and Loyal Daubenspeck.

A rare photo of Loyal D. Daubenspeck and Swirles L. Himes, from the Huntingdon Daily Times.