Koedyker, Vera Fae Swets Obituary

Koedyker, Vera Fae Swets attended Horace Mann High School in Gary, IN. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Koedyker, Vera Fae Swets.

Graduation Year	Class of 1948
Date of Passing	Apr 03, 2012
About	She had resided with her sister in Spartanburg, SC since 2000 and passed away peacefully at home. Although nearly blind from macular degeneration and having beaten heart disease and colon cancer, she succumbed to lung cancer after a brief time. Her courage, fortitude and quiet trust in her faith was an inspiration to all who knew her. Vera was born on February 15, 1930 in Gary, IN, the eldest child of Samuel and Eva Mae (nee Forsythe) Koedyker. She and her brother, Donald Keith, three years younger, were best friends and cohorts until their sister, Sandra Marie, came along 15 years later. She was a 1948 graduate of Gary's Horace Mann High School, afterward taking voice lessons at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. In her 20's she was a Laboratory Assistant in the Gary Bank Building for many years and was instrumental in saving her sister's life during an appendicitis attack in 1953. She was a member of the Choir of Ross Reformed Church where she, her mother Eva, and her sister Sandy often sang as a Trio in the early 1960's. Vera was very artistic, using her sketching and drafting abilities in her Laurens sewing business. She was skilled in visual assessment, making patterns, garment construction and garment alteration, to which her many customers in Laurens, SC attest. When her children were in school, she drove a Highland Christian School bus. One day she decided to treat all the children to ice cream at the Dairy Queen but, unfortunately, removed part of the roof of the establishment in the process! After moving to Laurens in the 1980's, she was a gifted seamstress and later became a cook at Bridgeway Residential Care. She became a special friend to the residents and, since she was an excellent cook, they loved her dishes, many of which were her own unique recipes! She took great pride in her sewing abilities and was a true craftsman. Most years of her adult life she had a thriving garden and enjoyed picking, canning, freezing and preparing her own fresh fruits and vegetables! She also loved planting flowers and smelling all the fragrant ones! One of her greatest disappointments was never having gotten a college degree. In 1948 the colleges were full of WWII ex-soldiers going to school on the GI Bill. There were no scholarships for her and very few schools that wanted to take a woman in those days. She was able to take drafting at the IU extension in Gary that opened in the mid-1960's. She was very proud of helping her sister, Sandy, find Berry College, encouraging her to go on to higher education, and seeing her succeed. Perhaps she was driven a little by not having gotten to college herself.