Marguerite Sweeney
By Joe Rossiter

Marguerite Sweeney

Detroit Free Press

Marguerite Sweeney, a Free Press society columnist and editor, documented significant events.

On her wedding day, 55 years ago in Detroit, Marguerite Riley was a vision of loveliness.

She wore a navy blue bolero suit trimmed with white linen. She also donned a white, starched lace Dutch bonnet, and pinned a beautiful white orchid to her shoulder.

She and her husband, Theodore Sweeney, then spent their honeymoon motoring to Florida where they enjoyed two weeks at the Golden Strand Hotel in North Miami Beach.

Those events, chronicled in the Detroit Free Press on April 28, 1951, several days after Mrs. Sweeney wed, typified the style and depth of reporting that the former columnist and society editor was responsible for during her decade-long career with the newspaper.

Mrs. Sweeney of Grosse Pointe died Sunday, October 22, at St. John Hospital in Detroit. She was 88.

The cause of death was not disclosed.

"There was no doubt whatsoever in my mother's mind that she would one day become a writer," said her son, Ted Sweeney Jr. "She was always interested in what people were doing. She was always looking for the scoop and never stopped being a journalist."

Born in Detroit, the former Marguerite Hogg graduated from Pershing High School in 1935 where she worked on the school newspaper. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Wayne University in 1939. After graduating, she began her journalistic career at the Detroit News as a society reporter.

Mrs. Sweeney joined the Free Press in 1941 as a society columnist and editor.

During her career, she documented the weddings and funerals of the famous, as well as countless engagements and debutante parties.

Also in 1941, she married her first husband, William Riley Jr., who was a pilot during World War II and was killed in a plane crash shortly after the war ended.

After her marriage to Sweeney, she retired to raise a family.

"She was an infectious personality with a great lust for life and an engaging writing style," said her daughter-inlaw, Amie Sweeney. "Extremely well-rounded, she could put on an elegant evening dress, attend a black-tie affair and discuss politics or sports."

In addition to her son, survivors include two sisters; a brother, and two grandchildren.

Memorial services were at 10 a.m. Thursday, October 26, at St. Paul Catholic Church, 157 Lake Shore Drive, Grosse Pointe Farms. Burial will be at a later date.

Copyright i 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.