Kim Mack Swihart

Profile Updated: December 22, 2017
Residing In: Cape Elizabeth, ME USA
Spouse/Partner: Jim Swihart, since 2001
Occupation: Retired! Statistical Programmer for Sanofi Pasteur
Children: Mark Holmberg, born 1978
Kristen Holmberg, born 1979
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After graduating from Michigan in 1970, I moved to Richmond, VA, and taught math in high school for a year (hated it). Then I started work as a computer programmer, an occupation I enjoy to this day. After many years of contract work, mostly for large telecoms, I put my skills to use in the clinical trials field, programming statistical analyses of data collected during drug studies, first for a contract research organization (CRO) in Charlottesville, VA, and now for the global vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur, in Swiftwater, PA. This is by far the most interesting work of my career.

While in Richmond, I married, divorced, married again, had my two children, and divorced their father in 1997. Then followed two very interesting years living in the Washington, DC, area on my own. I took up tower bell ringing at the National Cathedral, sang in a large chorus in McLean, volunteered as a facilitator for two organizations for people coping with divorce and separation, and met many interesting and accomplished people. In 1999, browsing the Yahoo Personals led to a meeting with Jim Swihart, with whom I have finally got this marriage thing right. Jim was finishing up a career in the foreign service with the US State Department when we met, and I moved with him to Colorado Springs when he took up his final post, as political advisor to the head of what was then the US Space Command. We loved living in Colorado, and would still be there if either of us could have found work there after Jim retired in 2002. Instead, we moved back to Virginia so that I could work (full-time for the first time in 20 years) for a CRO. This job was a good training ground for me, but 3.5 years was more than enough, and I took the better-paid and somewhat easier position I now have in NE PA, in 2006.

We have a lovely house with a fabulous view here (thanks to Jim, who does everything for me), and I do (mostly) like my job, but it is to travel that I most look forward. Having missed out on the foreign postings of Jim's career, I have been catching up ever since our honeymoon in 2001, which included my first trip to England. We have been back there several times since, usually travelling one way by ship, and have also had lovely trips to Austria, Copenhagen, and most recently to Berlin, a city where Jim worked for four years before the Wall fell. My current employer has also provided the opportunity for travel: I have gotten to go to our office in Lyon, France twice, for several days, and managed to spend a weekend in Paris with Jim on one of those trips. We have also recently opened an office in Beijing, and a trip there is still a possibility.

My daughter Kristen lives and works in LA, and we see her usually twice a year. My son still lives in Virginia. Neither is married, and I do not have grandchildren of my own, although my youngest brother, a late bloomer, has provided me with two nieces who may as well be. My father died a few years ago, but Mom still lives in Lansing, where we visit her and two of my siblings who are still there. Jim's mother lives in Maine, and he also has two grown children, and several siblings spread across this country. So we do find ourselves on the road often, visiting family. In particular, we enjoy his three-going-on-four grandchildren.

When not travelling or working, we enjoy reading, taking long walks, biking, a little skiing, and I am still singing in a chorus. Jim is a self-described political junkie, but resists my attempt to push him into active participation; we do both vote, at least.

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Feb 23, 2024 at 11:47 AM
Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
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Jan 20, 2024 at 4:33 AM
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Dec 09, 2023 at 3:55 PM

Hope your birthday, holidays and the new year are all happy and healthy, Mike.

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Jan 21, 2023 at 1:57 PM
Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
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Dec 13, 2022 at 2:30 PM

Posted on: Dec 10, 2022 at 11:03 AM

Many happy returns, Mike!

Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
Jan 20, 2022 at 4:33 AM
Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
Jan 20, 2021 at 4:33 AM
Dec 09, 2020 at 11:09 AM

Hope you can celebrate your birthday with the joy (and safety) it deserves. And may 2021 be a much better year for all.

Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
Jan 20, 2020 at 4:36 AM
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May 16, 2019 at 10:46 AM
Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
Jan 20, 2019 at 4:33 AM
Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
Jan 20, 2018 at 4:33 AM
Dec 22, 2017 at 5:20 PM
Feb 18, 2017 at 10:21 AM

Happy birthday, Mary Sue. Do whatever you want to on your day, and enjoy!

Kim Mack Swihart has a birthday today.
Jan 20, 2017 at 4:33 AM
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Jan 13, 2017 at 12:12 PM

Posted on: Dec 15, 2016 at 11:32 AM

Happy birthday, Mike! And while we're at it, have a merry Christmas with your family!

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Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:39 AM
25 April 2010, in Lyon, France, for a global meeting of the Dengue clinical team. That's the city in the background. This was my third business trip to France, and I didn't want to come home--except to see Jim.
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:39 AM
Jim and me on my 60th birthday, in his son's Brooklyn home. We spent the day in Manhattan, and had dinner at "21". (No, the sword does not actually go through my head.)
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:39 AM
Visiting Kristen, in Santa Monica
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:39 AM
Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 12:39 AM