Velma Nadine Swetnam Cartwright passed away Feb. 9, 2019, in Kingwood, Texas.
She was born May 15, 1934, in Evening Shade, daughter of David Earl and Orpha Elizabeth Lancaster Swetnam.
She graduated from Salisbury High School in 1951. She worked for five years as the medical record librarian at McCormick Hospital in Moberly, when she met John, a student at the University of Missouri in Columbia. They were married in June 1956. She completed two semesters at the University of Missouri before the birth of their first child.
She was a seamstress, artist and homemaker. She began making doll clothes at age 7. She made dresses for herself and coats and dresses for her daughters and granddaughters. She learned to crochet in elementary school and then taught her mother how to crochet. She crocheted blankets, Afghans and doilies. She took art classes from a professional artist and created more than 25 paintings in oils and watercolors. She taught herself calligraphy and knitting.
After her children graduated high school, she took a typing class and worked as secretory for SCORE.
She was an active volunteer. She was a Girl Scout leader, Sunday school teacher, delivered Meals on Wheels and worked the resale shop of Humble Area Assistance Ministries (HAAM). She was active in the PEO (Philanthropic Education Origination) and FOAL (Friends of Atascocita Library).
She was preceded in death by her parents.
Survivors include her husband, John; three children, David, Linda Dunn and Carol Cartwright; three grandchildren; a great-grandson; four sisters, Maxine McNeall of Columbia, Ruth Parsons of Houston, Eula Epperly of Columbia and Helen Moore of Columbia, Ind.; and a brother, Lloyd Swetnam of Jacksonville.
Private services were held by the family. Burial of ashes was Saturday, April 27, in Long Hollow Cemetery.
