Verona Sparrow Meeder, age 91, passed away in her home in Columbia, Maryland on October 14, 2022.
Born April 30, 1931, in Deep Run, North Carolina, daughter of Amos Melba and Carrie Grady Sparrow; Verona lived in Deep Run in a tobacco farming family throughout her youth.
Verona loved learning and the social life of school; she and her cousin Joyce never missed a single day of school during first through twelfth grades. Verona attended Meredith College and graduated from East Carolina Teachers College in 1953. She was a career elementary school educator and reading specialist, teaching in Illinois, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland. As a Washington D.C. public school teacher, she had the privilege of teaching fourth grader Amy Carter, the daughter of President Jimmy Carter, when he first arrived at the White House. Verona was featured in scores of national TV and print news for several months.
After college and during her marriage to Dr. Rev. Andrew Meeder, Verona lived in Norfolk, Virginia, Bainbridge, Maryland, Channahon, Illinois, Roanoke, Virginia, Silver Spring, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Lanham, Maryland, and Columbia, Maryland, where she lived from 1988 until her death.
Verona was a long-time active member of the PEO women's sorority, and an active participant and pastor’s spouse in the congregations that Andrew served, including Channahon United Methodist Church (UMC) in Channahon, Illinois, Northview UMC in Hollins, Virginia, Marvin Memorial UMC in Silver Spring, Maryland, Union UMC and the United Church in Washington, D.C., Lanham UMC in Lanham Maryland, and Ryland-Epworth, UMC in Washington, D.C. In Columbia, Maryland, she was an active participant in South Columbia Baptist Church. Verona had an extensive network of loving and caring friends, staying in touch through cards, letters, and phone calls. She was an involved, caring and generous grandmother, and deeply attentive to the lives of her great grandchildren.
Verona is survived by her daughter, Sheila; her sons: Paul and Hans (Lisa); 6 grandchildren: (in order or birth with spouses) Beth Anne and Travis Bradbury, Max and Lauren Weber, Joy and Brian Crook, Rachel and John Nehme, Carrie Meeder, and Hans Meeder, Jr. and 10 great grandchildren (in order of birth), Meira, John Jr. (J.J.), Jack, Bo, Liam, Lita, Sawyer, Otelia (Tilly), Phillip, and Madeleine.
Verona was preceded in death by her infant daughter, Paula; mother and father; sister, Vera; beloved cousin, Joyce Taylor; son-in-law, Rev. William John Weber (B.J.), and former husband, Andrew.
A Memorial service will be held at 11 am, Saturday November 12, 2022, at South Columbia Baptist Church, 8814 Guilford Road in Columbia Maryland. A reception will follow in the church social hall. There will be a private burial with children and grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made in honor of Verona Meeder to the New York Fellowship or PEO.
South Columbia Baptist Church
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