By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MAINEVILLE - Jane Sweeney Lewis was a cruisin' grandma.

The daughter of Cincinnati auto dealer Walter J. Sweeney, she drove a signature pink station wagon when she wasn't mowing her lawn on a tractor.

And on her 80th birthday, she went on a sea cruise with 30 family members who donned T-shirts that touted the "Top Ten Reasons for Cruisin' With Nana."

Her home was a popular gathering place for ice-skating parties and horseback rides when she was raising her children.

Mrs. Lewis, 84, died Tuesday morning at her home in Maineville after a brief illness.

The oldest of Walter J. and Helen Baum Sweeney's nine children, Mrs. Lewis grew up in Avondale. She told of how her father once traded a car for a pony. She and her siblings made a bed for it in the garage.

She was one of nine members of Ursuline Academy's class of 1934. In 1942 she married Gaylord C. Lewis and they settled in Carthage, where Mr. Lewis operated a veterinary clinic.

They built a home in Maineville in 1968. Mrs. Lewis donated the use of her property for parking for the Kroger Senior Classic.

Her husband died in 1992.

Survivors include two daughters, Gayle Froelich of Waynesville and Barbara Garten of Lebanon; two sons, G. Cooper Lewis Jr. of Maineville and Timothy Lewis of Lebanon; sisters, Helen Cantrell of New Port Richey, Fla., Pat Buck of Montgomery, Connie McKenna of Blue Ash and Nini Hoffman of Columbia Township; a brother, Tom Sweeney of Blue Ash; eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Mass of Christian burial is 10 a.m. today at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 7754 Montgomery Road. Interment will be at Spring Grove Cemetery.

Memorials: Hospice of Cincinnati 4210 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242.