Vera Jane Sweeney

Vera finally achieved the rest and peace she so richly deserved early in the morning on Wednesday, June 20, 2012, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Services will be held on Monday, June 25, 2012 at 11 a.m., at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines. Burial will be at Iowa Veterans Cemetery.

Vera Jane Dahlstrom was born on a farm near Savonburg, Kansas, on April 28th, 1934, to Vernon L. and Cleo Jane Wing Dahlstrom. Within a few years her parents divorced and Vera grew up under the care of her hard-working mother and maternal grandparents, Doc and Bessie Wing. After Grandpa Wing’s death, the three “girls” moved to Augusta, Kansas, where Vera attended elementary and middle school. She excelled in school and was very proud of her mother’s work at Boeing Aircraft in Wichita during World War II. After the war, Vera, Cleo, and Bessie moved to Newton, Iowa, where Vera graduated from high school. However, she always considered herself a “Kansas girl” and loved returning to visit family and friends there over the years. Sunflowers always made her smile!

Vera attended Drake University in Des Moines for two years where she studied business while she worked for Younkers Store for Homes in their business department. It was there that she met her future husband, Charles R. (“Chuck”) Sweeney. They married in Newton on October 17th, 1954. She worked for a few more years at the Credit Bureau in Des Moines as they lived first in an apartment on Ingersoll and then established their first home on 41st Street in northwest Des Moines. There she raised two children, Luanne and Stuart, supporting them in their many activities as she vigorously maintained an immaculate house (she was, after all, of good Swedish stock!).

Vera became an energetic genealogist in her later years, thriving on the discoveries and remembered stories of ancestors of both herself and her husband. Vera became THE “go to” person for family history and meticulously recorded in voluminous notebooks all accomplishments and changes in the families’ stories.

Vera loved music and had a beautiful singing voice. She had the opportunity to travel internationally, and immersed herself in the history and culture of all those she visited in England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslavia. She became a much more outspoken advocate of women’s and human rights in her later years. She set an example of great love, service, scholarship, hard work, patience, and humility to her children and grandchildren. She was a devoted caretaker to them, her husband, and other members of her extended family.

Vera will be missed dearly by her surviving husband, Charles; children Luanne (Rick Baker, West Des Moines) and Stuart (Karen Sweeney, Mt. Airy, Georgia); grandchildren Lucas and Ryan Baker and Kelly Sweeney and Tanner Banks; as well as extended family including Ted and Genese Sweeney, Ken and Sally Sweeney, Bob Seger, and a host of nieces and nephews plus “Wing cousins” as well. She knew and recorded each of their stories in her genealogy books, but she treasured each one in her heart.

In the end, it was due to complications of heart disease and a stroke that she passed on to reunite with family and friends who had preceded her to eternal rest. Any memorials in her honor may be directed to the Iowa Chapter of the American Heart Association. Mom, you were an absolutely amazing energy and presence in so many lives. We will try to continue to make you proud, and you are forever in our hearts. Love you always!

www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com

Print