Svea Sauer, age 98, died April 21, 2012, in Greensboro, NC. She was born April 18, 1914, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After living in many places in the eastern U.S., in 1946 she moved to Texas, which she adopted as her beloved home state. In 1998, Svea moved from Dripping Springs, to Greensboro to live at Friends Homes of Guilford.
Throughout her life, Svea was an activist for social and environmental causes. She began her career with the Emergency Peace Campaign Section of the American Friends Service Committee prior to WW II. She and her husband then worked on the Arthurdale, WV, Federal Homestead, one of the first New Deal projects. Through this association, she was privileged to meet Eleanor Roosevelt. Later, Svea returned to Philadelphia to work with AFSC as a writer.
After moving to Texas, Svea was employed for several years as a preschool counselor for the State Commission for the Blind, then later worked in real estate in Austin. Following her retirement from the real estate business, she again worked for the AFSC as Peace Secretary in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma during the Vietnam War.
Svea was never content to be idle, writing a weekly opinion column for the Hays Free Press newspaper in Texas for 18 years, until 2010, as well as working in the library at Friends Homes.
She was predeceased by her husband, David E. Sauer, M.D. She is survived by a niece, Genevieve Snyder, of Dagsboro, Delaware. Among her many friends who will miss her very much are Mel and Priscilla Zuck, Lucinda Frost, Anne Kimball, Betty Dixon, Amy Stern and Jeaneane Williams.
In accordance with her wishes, there will be no service.
