Teen attends stranger's funeral and wins their car
Published on Sep 28, 2023 at 3:34 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Sep 28, 2023 at 4:28 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Attendees of an American woman’s funeral were given the chance to win the woman’s Volkswagen Beetle.
Despite not knowing the woman, a teen from Oklahoma attended her funeral and actually won the raffle.
The bizarre but wholesome raffle was actually the woman’s final request.
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It was Diane Sweeny’s last wish to give away her car to a guest at her funeral.
As a result, her funeral was a full house of hopeful faces with dozens of attendees Diane never met in life.
Diane’s family had to wait over a year for paperwork to be finalized to give the car away but the raffle was drawn this week.
Local news outlet, KFOR, finally announced the winner as 16-year-old Gabriella Bonham from El Reno.
“I’m excited for Aunt Diane’s memory to live on this way,” Diane’s niece, Suzanne Singleterry, said.
“The seats at Diane Sweeny’s funeral last year were full with friends, family, and people the family didn’t recognize. It didn’t matter if you knew her or not, everyone was invited.
“This is exactly how she would have wanted it. People from all walks of life. All ages, faces, races. Some of them came just because they heard about this woman’s story, and they needed a car,” she said.
While Gabriella was one of the guests Diane never met, her family was thrilled to gift her the car.
Gabriella described the win as an “answer to prayers”.
“I think it was really cool that she was like that… I am really grateful for them that they were able to continue her wishes,” she said.
Ten additional names, which are set to be announced later this month, were picked from the raffle and will receive small appreciation gifts too.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
