Waneva Eileen Denney Ardrey

Waneva Eileen Denney was born the second of three children to David Filmore and Lula Belle (Cochran)Denney Monday, October 3, 1927 in a Zanesville, Ohio hospital. She was raised 8 miles west in the nearby 300 person village of Mt. Sterling with a mailing address of Hopewell. Her older brother Russell welcomed her warmly and called her “Sis” for their lifetimes. In 1929, younger brother Richard joined the family. In 1930, her parents built a new home in Mt. Sterling on U. S. 40 known as “The National Road” as it was the route to the west from Baltimore next to her Grandmother (Minnie Denney) with 2 inside bathrooms! Brother Russell recalled watching their mother’s father John Cochran digging the basement with a horse and plow. She attended a one room school house in the village in her early education and learned to play the piano, and later, the trombone as well. She loved her dolls and still has several as well as a buggy to push them in She got her first bicycle when she was 12 years old. She was active in the 4H Club and was an excellent seamstress having been taught by her mother Lula. She often summered with her maternal grandparents John and Allie Cochran at their farm 4 miles away where she would do chores and herd in the cows from the pasture at night. The family attended Mt. Sterling United Methodist Church. Brother Russell went to war in 1942 serving in the U. S. Army. Brother Richard was double promoted and together they attended Hopewell High School a few miles west on “the pike” near the 500 person village of Gratiot graduating in 1945 in a class with fewer than 20 students.

While attending Hopewell High School, she met William Jerome Ardrey of Gratiot who would later become her husband. He, too, played the trombone in

the school band. Her father David knew Jerome’s father Roy as they both served on the County School Board. Jerome joined the Navy in the spring of 1943 as all students were being called for duty serving in the Pacific Theater aboard the U.S.S. Hopewell destroyer. They maintained contact throughout the war by letter and his visits home, During the war, Jerome’s parents (Roy and Mae Irvin Ardrey) moved 12 miles from Gratiot to a home On Brighton Blvd. in

Zanesville. Following her graduation from Hopewell High School in 1945, Waneva attended Meredith Business College in Zanesville with her brother Richard before he went to attend The Ohio State University in Columbus, and later St. John’s Law School in New York City. Waneva worked in the Trust Department of a Zanesville bank and later at the Rankin & Rankin insurance agency. During a holiday leave at the end of 1945, Waneva and Jerome attended a New Year’s Eve movie at a Zanesville movie theater. There in the balcony he proposed marriage and she accepted. He returned to duty while she continued working and preparing for their wedding set for August 4, 1946 at the Mt. Sterling United Methodist Church which was attended by most Mt. Sterling and Gratiot residents to the extent that the overflow of people were peering through the windows on that hot day.

An adventurous honeymoon motor trip followed including Cleveland, Niagara Falls, New York City and Washington, D.C On their return, Waneva continued working at the insurance agency while Jerome attended Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio while working at a shoe store in Zanesville with Waneva’s brother Russell who had returned safely from the war and married Jean Greiner in January, 1946. Upon graduation, Jerome accepted a position in the other Mt. Sterling, Ohio some 50 miles away where son Gary was brought home from the hospital in 1951. Later that year, they moved to Newark, Ohio and bought Cape Cod style home on Bachmann Avenue. Second born son Greg was brought here upon his birth in 1952. The ranch style home they built on Goose Pond Road was completed later in the year. In July, 1954 they traveled with Waneva’s parents, brother Russell and wife Jean to New York City for the wedding of brother Richard to Betty Ann Cunningham, where they met her parents Ted and Mildred, leaving sons Gary and Greg in the care of her Uncle Bob & Aunt Gladys Cochran. Later in 1954 Waneva and “Jerry” (as he’d come to be known to most business associates) moved to Huntington, West Virginia when Jerome joined the Chrysler Corporation. They moved to Columbus, Ohio in the spring of 1955 due to a Chrysler transfer and during this time third son Mike was born in 1957. In 1960, another Chrysler transfer moved the family to Cincinnati where they bought a new brick ranch home on 1/3 of an acre in the western suburbs. In 1962, Waneva and family moved back to Columbus where Jerome worked for Allis Chalmers and later a local firm. In 963, Jerome rejoined Chrysler Corporation in their dealership real estate department and the family moved to Livonia. The summer of 1964 was spent in southern California in a townhouse while “Jerry” worked. In Nov., they moved to the new colonial home they’d purchased on Riverside in Livonia.

In 1965, Jerry joined the Ford Motor Company real estate department and shortly hereafter Waneva became involved in the Ford Wives Club and later the Travelers Aid Society where she assisted travelers at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport. The years passed, the boys graduated from Stevenson High School and Waneva kept busy while they were at college and later through health clubs, Schoolcraft College swimming and yoga classes and more, especially enjoying the company of her many good friends met at these places, in the neighborhood, Ward Church where she and Jerome served as deacons for several years. In 1976, they bought along with sons Gary and Greg their first Florida condominium in Clearwater which was used for vacations by all as Jerry was still working and Gary and Greg were living in Chicago with their careers. In 1983, the family bought their Belleair, FL condominium and kept the Clearwater one two miles away for family to use and enjoy. When Jerome retired from the Ford Motor Company in 1987 after 22 years Waneva and he would winter in Florida with Gary and Greg leaving care of the Livonia house to Mike. They also traveled to Europe several times and other

locations with family and friends.

This continued until 2001 when Jerry’s health deteriorated. Since Jerome’s death June 29, 2003, Waneva and Mike went to Florida for the Christmas holiday season each year until 2013 when Waneva’s Health made the trip too much of a challenge. She loved her husband, sons, family and friends dearly and appreciated their many kindnesses through the years.

A Funeral Service will be held on Friday, January 2, 2014 at 11:00am at Harry J. Will Funeral Home, 37000 Six Mile Rd. in Livonia. Visitation will take place on Thursday, January 1, 2014 from 4:00pm to 7:30pm and Friday, January 2, 2014 from 10am until the time of service. Life celebration following internment at Glen Eden Memorial Park.