Harold E. Sweeney, Jr.
November 21, 1933 – November 7, 2024

Harold E. Sweeney, Jr. was born in 1933 in Detroit, Michigan, to Harold E. Sweeney, Sr. and Marion L. Sweeney. He was the husband of the late Patricia R. Sweeney. Harold embodied kindness, responsibility, and a spirit of service to others, community, and country.

The second eldest of six children in a close-knit family, Harold grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. He attended Cornell University, where he was active in campus religious life through the Newman Club. After college graduation, Harold served in the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant from 1955 - 1957, where he was stationed in Germany and completed his military service.

Following his return to the U.S, Harold completed graduate study in Political Science at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), where he also taught. In the late 1960s, he became a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Here he met Patricia (Patsy), a fellow professor. The two fell in love and married in 1967. After the birth of their daughter Catherine, the young family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where Harold taught at Jackson State, a Historically Black University (HBCU) and volunteered with the Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights.

In 1972, the Sweeney family moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where Harold accepted a faculty position with Shippensburg University (Shippensburg, Pennsylvania), where he taught Political Science and Public Administration for 23 years, and was known for his advocacy on behalf of his students and colleagues. Harold also taught senior U.S. Army officials through the Master of Public Administration Program, a program that Shippensburg developed with the U.S. Army War College. He was an active parishioner at St. Patrick Church (Carlisle). A devoted husband and father, he always took the time to lend a hand to neighbors in need and to work for the betterment of his community, from raising funds for his parish to shoveling neighbors' walks when it snowed. An avid reader and Detroit Tigers baseball fan, he also enjoyed being handy around the house and garden, maintaining a thriving vegetable garden, and building a treehouse for his daughter.

After their daughter and son-in-law (Richard Wynne) moved to Seattle, Washington, Harold and Patsy first moved to Boise, Idaho (2004) and then to Tacoma, Washington, in 2011. Harold and Patsy became residents at Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community, now known as Eliseo. Here Harold sang in the Joyful Voices choir and was an active volunteer. When Patsy experienced a fatal cancer re-occurrence in 2013, he cared for her with devotion. He lost Patsy after a happy 46-year marriage but found comfort in family and friendships.

Harold celebrated his 90th birthday in November of 2023 with family and eliseo friends. After his health declined, he resided at Eliseo and then at Ashford Senior Living in Edmonds, Washington, where the Providence Hospice team oversaw his care, and family members spent many hours at his side. He was preceded in death by parents, his wife Patsy, and brother Jeremiah Sweeney. He is survived by daughter Catherine Sweeney; sisters Mary Anne Wise, Mary Abigail Westapher, and Mary Elsbeth Sweeney; brother Thomas Sweeney; granddaughters Caroline and Amelia Wynne; and a large extended family.

We will celebrate Harold's life with a funeral Mass at St. Charles Borromeo on December 5, 2024, followed by a reception at the church and the Rite of Committal at the New Tacoma Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made online to the Shippensburg University Political Science Fund, c/o the Shippensburg University Foundation, or mailed to the Shippensburg University Foundation at 500 Newburg Road, Shippensburg, PA 17257, or to Providence Hospice and Home Care Foundation of Snohomish County.