Matheny, Veda 1903

Family Group Sheet

Name:   Veda Matheny

Birth:  15 Dec 1903

Place:  Stearns County, Minnesota

Death:  31 Oct 1975

Place:  Avenal, Kings County, California

Burial:  West Side District Cemetery, Taft, Kern County, California

Father:  Clifford Alton Matheny

Mother:  Rachel Alzora (Allie) Olmstead

Spouse:  William James Swarthout

Marriage:  

Place:  

Children:

Veda had no children.

Notes:

Memories of Veda

I rarely saw Aunt Veda, for she and her husband Bill lived in California and rarely came home.  I liked Aunt Veda.  She was a happy soul and had the typical Matheny dry sense of humor.  It was known within the family that Aunt Veda was partial to alcoholic beverages.  

I remember a time when Veda wanted to take me blueberry picking at Grandma Matheny's farm.  I was young at the time - maybe 6 or so years old.  Veda got us lost out in the bogs and it took a couple of hours for her to find our way back.  I don't believe any berries were picked that day.

When I was about 14 years old, Bill and Veda visited my parents at our farm by Willmar.  I remember being amazed to see the medicine chest she travelled with.  It was full of all sorts of prescription pill bottles and over-the-counter medications.

Veda had been widowed for two years at the time of her death in California.  Ken and Hazel (Dad's brother and his wife) from Minneapolis flew out to California to attend to her funeral and burial.  When they returned, they told my parents that they found Veda's house full of Mexicans who had no explination of their presence there.  They also found several dozen empty Nyquil cold remedy bottles scattered throughout the house.  Nyquil contained alcohol and the only reason Ken and Hazel could come up with for all the empty bottles was that Veda must have had some means of getting the cold medication when she could not afford to buy alcohol.  Ken and Hazel felt there was something wrong about Veda's death but could not find any tangible proof, nor could they interest law enforcement in their suspicions.

I always thought it was a sad ending to the life of such a happy, likeable woman.

-Vicki Matheny-