Mary Colletta Sweeney (Manning)

Sioux City - Mary C. "Colette" Sweeney, 90, of Sioux City passed away Feb. 8, 2013, at a local hospital.
Services will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, with the Rev. Merlin Schrad officiating. Burial will be in Ellendale Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m., and a parish vigil at 7 p.m., at Larkin Chapel, Christy–Smith Funeral Home.
Mary Coletta "Colette" Sweeney was born Oct. 14, 1922, to Jeremiah and Ellen (Kribell) Manning in Beresford, S.D. She was raised on the family farm outside of Beresford, where she attended country school. After graduating from Beresford High School, she was the housekeeper for Father Tom Manning, her uncle, for one year, before enrolling in nurse’s training at St. Joseph’s Nursing School in Sioux City.
Upon completing her nurse’s training in 1944, she was one of the nurses who helped Sister Benigna Manning, her aunt, start the first outpatient and emergency department (emergency room), the first of its kind in Sioux City, in the old St. Joseph Hospital. She was the Outpatient and Emergency Department Supervisor from 1950-1953. She also cared for victims during the polio epidemic and treated patients using the iron lungs located at St. Joseph.
She married James R. Sweeney on Oct. 17, 1950, at the Emmet Catholic Church in Beresford. Together they raised three children, Kathie, Michael and Thomas. After the birth of her children, she unselfishly stayed home and raised her family, but never allowed her nursing skills to lapse. She cared for those in her neighborhood and her family. Her husband passed away in 2007 after 56 wonderful years of marriage.
She was a longtime member of Blessed Sacrament Church and lived her faith through caring for others and a strong prayer life. God and family were priorities in her life and she loved both dearly. She moved to Holy Spirit Retirement in the spring of 2011. She received excellent care at Holy Spirit Retirement Home and in the past two weeks from the 7th floor staff at Mercy Medical Center.
She is survived by her daughter, Kathie Sweeney of Tehachapi, Calif.; sons, Michael Sweeney and his wife, Julie of Sioux City, and Thomas Sweeney of Sioux City; grandchildren, Kayla, Meaghan, Allie, Brenna, Robert, Kristen, Tim and Bryce Sweeney; brother Joe Manning of Beresford, South Dakota; sister-in-law, Madonna Manning of Beresford, South Dakota and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband; an infant daughter, Ann; daughter-in-law, Pamela Sweeney; her parents; two sisters, Patricia McGarry and her husband, Bernie and Mary Steen and her husband, Oscar; a brother, Michael Manning; and a sister and brother-in-law, Doris and C.L. Fredrickson.