Joan M. Sweeney worked as an advertising copy writer in Chicago and a journalist for a suburban weekly newspaper, also writing 10 children’s books.
Sweeney, 86, died of complications from multiple sclerosis on Feb. 8 at the Oak Brook Care nursing home in Oak Brook, said her daughter, Peggy Furlong. She had been an Oak Brook resident since 2009, and before that had lived for 24 years in Evanston.
Born Joan Machen in Toledo, Ohio, Sweeney grew up in Toledo and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1952 from the University of Toledo, where she worked on the student newspaper and yearbook and also was class secretary.
After college, Sweeney first worked for the American Red Cross’ Toledo chapter as assistant director of public relations. In 1953, she moved to Chicago and began working for Montgomery Ward as a catalog copy writer.
Sweeney went on to work for Schwimmer & Scott and then for North Advertising, which later became Grey Advertising. While at North, Sweeney oversaw a campaign for Adorn Hair Spray and also created and wrote TV and print campaigns for other accounts, including Toni, Deep Magic and Englander.
She married James Sweeney and took time off to raise her family before starting to write books. In the mid-1970s, she worked for several years writing a human interest column called "Deerfield, USA" for the weekly Deerfield Review newspaper.
In 1985, Sweeney and her husband divorced, and she moved to Evanston and began working as the creative director for the advertising and marketing agency Graham Hayward & Associates.
In the early 1990s, Sweeney began writing children’s books. Probably her best-known book, "Me on the Map," helps a young girl look outward from her own bedroom to her country on a world map. Other books in the series include "Me Counting Time," "Me and My Amazing Body," "Me and My Place in Space," "Me and My Family Tree," "Me and the Measure of Things" and "Me and My Senses."
"She was a real pleasure to work with. She took editorial guidance and feedback so graciously and she was very humble but also very wise at the same time," said Tracy Gates, who was Sweeney’s book editor at Crown Books for Young Readers.
Sweeney enjoyed putting together rough dummies of her manuscripts, which were then paired with an illustrator.
"She was a lovely woman and a very talented author," said Danielle Egan-Miller, who was Sweeney’s literary agent.
Sweeney also penned children’s books aimed at making famous artists accessible to youngsters. Her book "Suzette and the Puppy" was about a girl’s encounter with the painter Mary Cassatt, while "Bijou, Bonbon and Beau: The Kittens who Danced for Degas" is about a mother cat and her kittens taking shelter in a Parisian theater where the artist Edgar Degas is sketching. "Once Upon a Lily Pad: Froggy Love in Monet’s Garden" is about two frogs living in the pond in painter Claude Monet’s garden.
"The Degas book was a really pretty book," Egan-Miller said. "She really blended children’s stories with works of art."
"What was wonderful about the books is that there weren’t a lot of very young nonfiction books at the time, and I think she saw a way to help children see the world," Gates said.
Isabel Warren-Lynch, who worked as an art director on Sweeney’s books, recalled Sweeney’s inherent understanding of how to communicate with youngsters.
"She was tuned in to what appealed to kids in that age group of preschool through kindergarten," Warren-Lynch said. "She really had a good sense for kids that age. And her books were a very nice collaboration between editor, illustrator and Joan."
Sweeney stopped writing children’s books in the early 2000s.
In addition to her daughter, Sweeney is survived by two sons, John and Tom; 10 grandchildren; and a brother, James Machen.
A memorial service will take place at 1:30 p.m. May 13 at Christ Church of Oak Brook, 501 Oak Brook Road, Oak Brook.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
