Janet Sweeney Obituary

Greetings from 09-15-07,

Last weekend (09-08-07), my spouse and I attended the dedication ceremony of the "DeBack" lodge at Lutherdale Bible Camp near Elkhorn, WI. You can see their website at --

http://www.lutherdale.org

The building is new and contains a "sleeping room" dedicated to Janet Sweeney based upon a significant contribution from her estate to Lutherdale. I have placed some photos in the photo gallery about the building and the sleeping room for your viewing.

Formal activity on Janet's life and estate is now over. This may be the last entry for some time. I am going to leave an "audio entry" so you can hear some of my final thoughts regarding Janet.

I don't know if anybody will ever "check up" on her life because she had "no relatives" preceding or succeeding her. She was an only child who lived with her mother all of her mother's life, even though she married once and, yes, twice. I don't know who would ever really be interested in her life in the decades ahead.

Nevertheless, she left all of her estate to charity which was no small feat because she spent the last 13 years of her life in 5 different assisted living/nursing home living arrangements which were very expensive. Still, she was able to leave the balance of her LIFETIME of accumulated wealth to --

1. Sugar Creek Bible Camp near the Mississpi River.
2. The American Players Theater near Spring Green.
3. Lutherdale Bible Camp near Elkhorn.
4. The South Central Alzheimer's Association in Madison.
5. The National Alzeheimer's Association in Chicago.

For the record, I also donated all of my fees for managing her estate to a charitable camp for children, too.

Besides myself, the probable last person that would know anything about her would be our daughter, Tami Martin, who currently lives in Walworth, WI, not that far from Lutherdale. Oh, and we plan to move near her in the near future. Tami was a co-guardian of Janet and took her on many outings.

Well, I guess the journey is over . . . after 13 years. Her legacy was modest by many standards but hopefully very significant to the visitors of the organizations listed above.

If you do need to contact me, you can always probably find me on "the net" or whatever succeeds it in the years to come. I also plan to document my travels in the years ahead at --

http://www.genuine-tourist.com

So take care . . . and think about Janet from time to time, especially if you are one of the youths that enjoy her gifts.

Janet's birthday is today, but today is April 20th and not April 22nd. Perhaps, I too, am showing my age or something. Of course, I am also thinking about how Janet passed herself off as three years younger so perhaps she would be OK my very small error of 2 days!

04-22-2006

A Moment of Celebration,

Today, Janet would have been 86 years old because she was born on April 22nd in 1921. She died in February of 2005, just short of her 84th birthday, but her obituary says she was 84.

I received word today from Darlene Breon of Lutherdale Bible Camp near Elkhorn, WI, that a building currently under construction on the grounds with a room dedicated to Janet's memory. The room will have in it a photograph of Janet and perhaps some brief bio information. Lutherdale plans to have a dedication ceremony on September 8th for the building and make some mention of the people whose gifts contributed to the building's construction.

Hopefully, my spouse and I will be able to attend the dedication. Perhaps the dedication service can be a kind of symbolic "transformation" for Janet from the mortal world to the spiritual realm because Lutherdale is a place where both the Word and song are blended in a beautiful setting. Janet was a person of music, and I think the music of the camp will continue to be special to her as she listens to it from the spiritual realm she now enjoys. Many times I heard Janet play the organ for other by "memory" even when she had no memories of herself because of the disease of Alzheimers that stole her identity, BUT the disease could not take the music from her soul!

We may not always remember Janet's birthday as the years go by and our lives are filled with other things. Maybe, however, she will live on in the hearts and minds of both the children and adult campers who visit Lutherdale Camp and enjoy a peaceful setting in "Janet's room" by the lake. Perhaps, when they hear the music of the camp, they will think of Janet, if only so briefly.

You are invited to add your thoughts to her "permanent website" in her "guestbook" on this site.

It may be that your organization has also used her financial gift in a very special way and you can leave some record of it for future generations to view in this book.

Sincerely,
Stephen P. Sardeson
Personal Representative



A complete obituary is available at --

http://tinyurl.com/d34r8

I have Janet's lovely picture right inside my office door. It makes me smile every time I enter the door.

Thank you to Janet for all she has done for Lutherdale's ministry in the past and what her legacy will mean to this ministry. There will be a Janet Sweeney room in a new facility that will be built soon. Janet's picture will be displayed along with a plaque in her memory.

God bless the soul of our friend Janet Sweeney.

American Players Theatre is so very grateful for the special bequest left by Janet to keep great classical plays alive on our outdoor stage. We are proud that she enjoyed her visits here and we hope they sustained her as she reflected on the "good old days". Her legacy helped us construct our Gateway Building in 2005.

Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:59:56 -0600

From: "Don J.



To: [email protected]

Subject: Janet Sweeney





This is being directed to :Mr. Stephen Sardeson at the request of Faith . . . . of Madison, WI., a long-time supervisor of the late beloved Janet Sweeney, long the Director of the Chicago office of the then Wis. Division of Tourism. This writer was a cohort and friend of [Faith's]at the Madison HQ, as public information officer. I retired July 1, 1990, and Faith followed a few years later. While now living on Lake Superior I do see[Faith]on occasional trips downstate to Madison. I also had the pleasure on numerous occasions during and after my duties with Tourism to see Janet Sweeney at lunches or evening gatherings both in Chicago and Madison while she was still employed and then retired. A delightful lady! . . .

From: "Darlene Breon"

To: [email protected]

Subject: Janet Sweeney

Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 11:26:19 -0500





My special thoughts of Janet Sweeney:

I did not know Janet well. I became aware of her connection to the ministry of Lutherdale Bible Camp eight years ago when I first became the Development Director at Lutherdale. At the time, Janet was in the nursing facility in Verona near Madison. Whenever, I would travel to Madison I would take the opportunity to stop to visit Janet. Because of her medical condition, Janet did not know me or remember Lutherdale Bible Camp. We would talk about her mother and she would compliment me especially on a pink sweater that I wore. We would take walks throughout the halls of the facility and talk and laugh about things that I was unaware of and she probably wasn't either. I remember especially during one of our walks, Janet started humming a tune and we both laughed and laughed. As we continued our walk, she would begin humming again and we would laugh and laugh again. My day was brightened by her laughter and I didn't even know why we were laughing. Whenever I left my visits, I would always ask Janet, "Now you will remember me next time I come, won't you?" She always said she would - but she didn't even know who I was or our connection. But we always enjoyed our visits anyway.

God Bless the soul of Janet Sweeney - she now rests in the arms of Jesus for all eternity.



Respectfully,

Darlene Breon, Development Director

Lutherdale Bible Camp

N7891 US Hwy 12

Elkhorn, WI 53121

262-742-2352

262-742-3169 fax

[email protected]

Welcome to Janet Sweeney's guest book.

I was privileged to know Janet and follow the last 13 years of her life. We first met when she lived for a number of years (at two different periods of time) at Birchwood Court Assisted Living in Verona, WI. Unfortunately, because of her fraility, I never knew much about the majority of her life, except from brief glimpses she personally shared with me during numerous visits and from entries in her scrapbook. However, because of her illness, I eventually became her guardian.

The photo attached to this entry is believed to be Janet at a very early age imprinted on a postcard photo. The back of the photo has handwritten on it "Jeanette."
<
br>If you know anything about Janet and her life, please make an entry into this guest book or e-mail me with the information.

Als
o, please consider being present at Graceland Cemetery at about 12:30 PM for a brief service and burial at 1:00 PM on Saturday, May 28th, at 4001 North Clark Street in Chicago. We will initially gather in the small chapel at 12:30 PM.

This guest book will remain "on-line" for many years to come, depending upon technology and other unknowns. I will be checking my e-mail address of --

Silversard@ya
hoo.com

for many years to come so please attempt to email me even if the year 2005 has long since passed.

Thank you for your interest in Janet. She would have felt very honored by your inquiry of her.