Jean Ann Sweeney

She was born Jean Ann Pettit on July 28, 1936 in Hempstead, New York, but would call many places beyond Long Island home in her decades of life: Dunwoody and Flowery Branch, Georgia, the San Francisco Bay area, Chester and Grafton, Vermont, Hilton Head Island, and at last back to Georgia to live in Camden County by the salt marshes and the sea.

A lifelong Catholic, Jean shared and modeled her faith in a quiet and gentle way. Rooted in faith, she embraced the call to love one another as Jesus taught, her life reflecting a quiet, steady example of compassion, generosity, and grace.

Jean could not possibly have been a better blueprint for her children and grandchildren. She had a keen mind and the sharpest wit in the family. She will remain forever, the undisputed Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune champion!

Her creativity produced countless quilts, dolls, soaps, greeting cards, washcloths, and of course, her internet famous knitted “Jeanie’s Beanies” to warm the heads of her children, grandchildren and online Instagram fans far and wide.

Jean was preceded in death by her beloved husband Raymond, her mother and father Jean and Lewis Pettit, and her brother William Pettit.

She will be forever missed by those she has left behind including her six children, Kevin Sweeney (Mary), Colleen Mazzuca (Frank), Kathryn Kelling (Jeff), Dennis Sweeney (Paula), Christopher Sweeney (Jocelyne), and Elizabeth Herrington (Lee), along with 22 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren so far!

She has shaped each one of them, and they will carry and pass on different aspects of her remarkable character for generations to come.

Jean now joins in paradise, Raymond, her beloved husband of 63 years. Their shared legacy will live on in all who love remember them.