Obituary of Sandra Sweeny Silver

Naples, Florida—Sandra Sweeny Silver passed this world into Heaven peacefully on December 21, 2021 in Naples Community Hospital due to brain injuries incurred from a fall on December 8th. She was surrounded by her husband, children and grandchildren, all of whom adored her.

To say that Sandy Silver was a brilliant, accomplished and extraordinary woman would be an understatement. In addition to being exceptionally kind, compassionate and loved by many, she was a prolific researcher and writer. A true renaissance woman, Sandy was a published author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction on cooking, gardening, bee keeping and ancient history. With a voracious, life-long, non-stop passion for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, she also produced numerous as-yet unpublished books and articles on a variety of topics. Sandy now “knows even as she is known.”

An authority on the ancient church, Sandy had a popular blog site (earlychurchhistory.org) featuring her hundreds of articles on the early Christians, with 300,000 followers world wide— the most frequently visited site in that field on the internet. Sandy’s final post will be in early January ’22 (prepared before her accident), with a tribute by her husband/webmaster Steve. The site will remain up and continue to be a vital resource for many for years to come…just the way Sandy would want it. A curated collection of her blog articles will be published posthumously in paperback form in the coming year.

As important as her lifetime of research and writing were to her, Sandy’s greatest legacy will be her love for Jesus Christ, her family and her extended family of many. Her warmth and loving presence will be greatly missed and fondly remembered by all who knew her.

Sandy was born in Cambridge, Ohio in 1937. Raised in Alliance, Ohio and Pittsburgh, PA. She attended the University of Lausanne and L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland for a year following high school. She then went on to receive her Bachelors and Masters degrees in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh. She lived in Connecticut and Naples, Florida with her husband Steve of 50 years. She is survived by Steve, her three children (Kathleen Brown DeTour, John Blake Brown and Stephen Justin Silver); six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Sandy’s final resting place on this side of Heaven will be at Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan, CT. There will be memorial and celebration of life services conducted for her in CT and Naples later this winter.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12