Garnet Sveda

My girlfriend left me!

I'm saddened to tell you that Garnet passed away on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 in the Hospice Care Center in Euclid, Ohio on the shore of Lake Erie.

We spent our honeymoon in Vermillion, Ohio on the same Lake Erie shore only a short distance away but a lifetime of memories in between. We met in 1947 at Akron South High School where she impressed me with her beauty, personality and talent. In her early career, she was an Ohio Bell telephone operator and a professional dancer with the Jean Shepherd Dance Troupe. Our first years together were in an apartment above the home of her parents, Edgar and Edith Nicely in South Akron. The next move for us was to Firestone Park where our daughters Candace, Shelly, Tracey, Leslie and son, Allan Jr. (Rocky) were born. Garnet was a PTA President and finally learned to drive a car during this time. Then to Hudson in 1967 where she was the busy mother to the girls and Rocky and President of the Music Association. All the kids' activities required shopping and OH, how she loved to shop. The arrival of grandchildren, Cole, Clay, Caylie, Jonny, Jocelyn, Sander and Kelsey meant more birthdays and, of course, more shopping. Garnet was a die-hard Cleveland sports fan, an avid Coca-Cola collector, and an inveterate reader. She loved to swim. She also loved movies, Mary Coyle ice cream, hamburgers, visits with South High '48 classmates, Firestone Park, Hudson, and North Carolina friends, and working at Candy's Interiors Studio. Her indomitable spirit never waned after knee, hip and shoulder replacements. In 1997, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's. The disease did not slow her down until this year when she could no longer walk. We all took turns pushing her when she wheel chair shopped. So there you have it; a brief outline of the life of Garnet and Allan together. Like the deep red birthstone of her name, she was truly a gem, and though she has left me after these 58 years, she will never be forgotten.

She was predeceased by sisters, Edith and Shirley and leaves sons-in-law, Bill Holt (Shelly), Jon Crawford (Tracey) and daughter-in-law, Felecia (Rocky) and many nieces and nephews.

No flowers. There will be no services. Cremation has taken place. Open house will be held at 21 Pinewood, Saturday, September 10th, from 2 to 4 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Attention: Tribute Gifts, Church Street Station, P.O. Box 780, New York, NY 10008-0780 OR www.michaeljfox.org/challenge

Arrangements by Johnson-Romito Funeral Home in Hudson. Johnsonromito.com