Mary and family, sorry to learn of your brothers passing.  Your parents and mine (Leo and Elouise Soukup)  were long time friends.  

Dear Mary and Family, 

I was so sorry to hear of Terry's death. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you. 

Peggy Apthorpe

I started my teaching career with Terry at Pope John 41 years ago.  He was a wonderful teacher and great mentor for a new teacher. 

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Mr. Sweem.  He was a favorite teacher of mine and I always enjoyed his classes.  He let me sleep sometimes in English 12, I think mostly because he knew I would keep up on the reading!  One of my favorite discussions with him was disagreeing with him about the timeline of "To Kill A Mockingbird" and each of us standing our ground based on the events of the book.  I'm still sure that I am right.  Sweeeeem was a great teacher and will be missed.

I remember lots of laughs with this man.  Looking back he may have been laughing at us as much as with us.  Good teacher and coach.  Aaron Parks pj class 2000


I taught with Mr Sweem at EPJ.  VERY kind and dedicated teacher to the students and school.  RIP Terry 

Mr. Sweem was my teacher in the late 90's.  He was very passionate about his job and was always helpful with students who had questions.  Very intelligent, yet still humble in life.  He also helped with athletics at the high school, volunteering his time with the football team.  Awesome person! 

Deepest condolences to family. I spent some enjoyable time with Terry when he directed the local play productions in Elgin, Ne. He was a lot of fun.

Steve Paul
Elgin, NE. 

I was so sorry to hear of the passing of my dear mentor, Mr. Sweem. 
Mr. Sweem really changed my life. I was a fish out of water, freshman year, moving from a city to a small little town. We moved halfway through the year, and I’d been in an advanced English class. They didn’t have an equivalent class at my high school, so I was able to have an independent study class with Mr. Sweem. 
We had great conversations about pop culture, theatre and Shakespeare, and he encouraged me to pursue my artistic endeavors. He put up with a LOT of silly shenanigans, especially with our speech teams, always with an exasperated look (and a smile). 
I was able to work along side him as a stage manager for theatre productions, learning the ropes and the inner workings of the “behind the scenes.” Those were some of the best and most formative times of my life. 
I learned much about patience, diligence, compassion and kindness from Mr. Sweem. He was a wonderful human, a mentor, and a beloved friend. I am so thankful to him. 
-Shauna

Mr. Sweem will be remembered fondly by many Pope John alums. I remember that speech class always started a bit late whenever Brett Favre had a good game the night before. And boy, did us guys always try to take full advantage! He'd humor us just long enough to let us think we could avoid class entirely, but always gently brought us back in line and back to work. He selflessly gave much of his time and energy to teaching the arts as well as to lending a hand to many of the sports programs at Pope John.

I'll always remember breaks in basketball games where we'd cheer his name while he ran the clock... "Sweeeeeeeem!".  He'd wave us off kindly until we felt we'd made him blush enough and then he'd get back to work.  Back to keeping track of time.

I'm sad to hear that his time with us all has ended.  He was one-of-a-kind.  He will be missed.  May he rest peacefully in heaven, where they say that time stands still.

Mr. Sweem was always a favorite teacher of mine in high school. He instilled a love of literature and speech that persists to this day. He will be missed.

OBITUARY

Terence A Sweem

October 15, 1951 – January 18, 2022

Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home & Cemetery

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