Jewell Swaim Erfurth was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 23, 1902 to Mr. and Mrs. Guy Winfield Swaim, Sr. She attended Little Rock High School. She was married to William C. Erfurth, who pre-deceased her. She worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Little Rock from 1920 to 1964. She was distinguished as “Woman of the Year” by the National Railroad Business Women’s Association. She was a life-long member of Asbury United Methodist Church in Little Rock, serving as organist from 1930 to 1944. She served on the church’s administrative board, and was also church historian and a Sunday school teacher. Asbury honored her as historian emeritus in 1994. She also belonged to organizations such as the American Guild of Organists, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Woman’s City Club, and Bayview. She died on November 26, 1995 of unspecified causes.