After losing their farm during the Depression in 1933, the Sveine family moved to 1010 North Payne in New Ulm. (The proper pronunciation of their Norwegian name is “Svay’-nuh,” but the Germans in New Ulm had trouble with that so it was Anglicized to “Sweeney.”)

She attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Grade School in New Ulm and graduated from New Ulm Public High School. She begun work on her Licensed Practical Nursing degree during her last year of high school and she finished her degree from Union Hospital in New Ulm. While waiting for a work call from the Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis (that came too late), she accepted an invitation from her sister Helen to keep her company in Seattle while her husband, Bernis “Bud” Simpson, was serving in the Navy. Verna moved to Seattle about 1942 – a move that was to define the remainder of her life.

While caring for his mother, Esther, Verna met Tom Kenney, Jr. They married on October 17, 1945 at the First Hill Lutheran Church in Seattle. They went on to have three children: Trudy, Michael, and Mark. The entire family lived in the greater Seattle area all of their lives.

Her working career was spent as an L.P.N. at the Norse Retirement and Nursing Home, and at Capital Hill’s Group Health Hospital in orthopedic care. Her caring nature fit her profession.

Verna was a warm person who greeted everyone with a hug and kiss. Her premature silver hair and short stature were her trademarks. Measuring up to “G.G.’s” (great grandma’s) 5-foot height was the goal that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren strived for. She packed a lot of love and spunk into her 5-foot frame!

Her infectious smile and upbeat attitude make her easy to like and everyone, strangers or not, felt comfortable in her presence. She made sure that any new visitors felt loved and welcomed at her family’s holiday meals.

She really enjoyed traveling with Tommy. Highlights were many trips overseas – including a six-month driving trip through Western Europe – and visits to six of the world’s seven continents. Family visits back to Minnesota were regular and her parents and family loved seeing her again.

In addition to a love of travel and family, Verna was a beautiful knitter and skilled gardener. She was a wonderful cook and kept her Norwegian heritage alive by making lefse and teaching her family that skill. She was an avid reader and turned to audio books for enjoyment as her eyes aged. In conversation, she had a flair for the dramatic and told great stories. She also enjoyed playing the card game cribbage – which was just a pretext for visiting with people.

Verna died peacefully at home on June 29, 2021 at her daughter Trudy’s home (where Verna lived) in Maple Valley, WA. She was 98 years old.

She is survived by: her daughter Trudy and her children Rachel Trussell (Mike) and Heather Tilson (Randy) and their families; son Mike’s former wife Cindi Huner and her daughter Haley; and by son Mark and his significant other, Margo Hughes, her children, and by his children Eric Kenney, Shawna Kenney (s/o Eric Hausen), Alisha Heintzinger (Eric), and Tina Duarte (Greg) and their families. She also had ten great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by: her parents, George, Sr. and Marie Sveine; her in-laws, Thomas, Sr. and Esther Kenney; husband Tom; her son Mike, and her 14 siblings: unnamed son (died in infancy), Eldor, Helen, Irene (“Ikey”), Gordon, Burton (d.i.i.), Vernon (d.i.i.), Verna (d.i.i.), Nina, Burton (“Buddy”), George, Marcy, Alexander (“Sandy”), and Wally.

The memorial service was on Saturday, July 17 at 10 a.m. at St. Matthews’ Lutheran Church at 1700 Edmonds Ave. N.E. in Renton, Washington. Verna had no doubt of an afterlife and will be greeted there by her loved ones in a loving reunion.

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]