CLARENCE GERALD SWEENEY

JASPER-A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. today (Wednesday) at the United Methodist Church in Golden City for Clarence Gerald Sweeney, 85, Jasper, who died at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, 2015, at Cox South Medical Center in Springfield. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.

Arrangements are under the direction of Pugh Funeral Home, Golden City.

Survivors include his children, Mark Sweeney and wife Karen, Roseville, Calif., Tina Felkner and husband Skip, Lamar, Jeff Sweeney and fiancee Barbara Bradley, Carthage and Nancy Thomas, Carthage; a sister, Dorothy Miles, Gallette, Wyo.; grandchildren, Rosanna Jordan, Melissa Felkner-Cole, Jennifer Doerr, Crystal Felkner, Kristina Kurpakus, Pamela Austin, Joey Thomas and Kelly Thomas; great-grandchildren, Jeremy Doerr, Christopher and Taddeo Nuse and Zoey Austin and step-great-grandchildren, Chris and Wes Doerr.

He was preceded in death by brothers, Ray, Loren, Clifford, Bruce and Lee Sweeney; sisters, Lena Whaley, Faye Ransom and Grace Branstine and a great-granddaughter, Miranda Doerr.

Mr. Sweeney was born Nov. 12, 1929, in Eads, Colo., to Hiram Madison and Rosa Helen (Daschofsky) Sweeney. He grew up in Eads, Colo. His family relocated and brought their cattle on a train into Kansas City from Kiowa County, Colo., and there unloaded them for a drink. They then reloaded them to travel to Lamar and from there they drove cattle on foot to the farm east of Kenoma in Barton County. Mr. Sweeney spent his final high school years at and graduated from Golden City schools. He served in the army as a corporal from January 1952 to December 1953. He married Barbara Anne Banta on July 3, 1957, in Dade County. She preceded him in death on Sept. 8, 2013. They had lived in Carthage from 1957 to 1970, before moving to Jasper and living there until his wife's death, when he moved to Carthage.

Mr. Sweeney worked for the Safeway Cheese Plant as a supervisor for over 30 years, retiring in 1990. After retirement his hobbies were farming, which he had started earlier, and his grandkids. He was a member of the United Methodist Church in Golden City and had served as a trustee for the church.