A teen won a Volkwagen that belonged to Diane Sweeney after attending the woman’s funeral in 2022.Photo:Courtesy Suzanne Singleterry

An Oklahoma family recently announced the winner of a car raffle held in one of the most unusual ways: at their loved one’s funeral. Diane Sweeney died last year from an unexpected illness, and her funeral had a large turnout once it was announced that her 2016 Volkswagen Beetle would be raffled. “It was her last wish, facilitated by her niece and nephew and many others,” her niece Suzanne Singleterry told FOX Television Stations. The raffle was also facilitated by the Resthaven Funeral Home.

Courtesy Suzanne Singleterry

An Oklahoma woman who died last year finally had her unique wish fulfilled: a stranger who went to her funeral last year later won her car via a raffle.

Diane Sweeney, of Norman, was 68 years old when she died unexpectedly on July 7, 2022, according to herobituary. Her last wish was that someone at her funeral, which was held 15 days later, would own her 2016 Volkswagen Bug.

Those attendees who were present at the Resthaven Funeral home in South Oklahoma City and signed the guestbook would be entered in a raffle drawing for the car.

“My Aunt Diane was a woman of immense kindness and love,” Suzanne Singleterry, Sweeney’s niece, shared in a statement to PEOPLE on Monday. “She had an extraordinary sense of humor that brought out the silver lining of every situation.”

Diane Sweeney’s funeral program.Courtesy Suzanne Singleterry

An Oklahoma family recently announced the winner of a car raffle held in one of the most unusual ways: at their loved one’s funeral. Diane Sweeney died last year from an unexpected illness, and her funeral had a large turnout once it was announced that her 2016 Volkswagen Beetle would be raffled. “It was her last wish, facilitated by her niece and nephew and many others,” her niece Suzanne Singleterry told FOX Television Stations. The raffle was also facilitated by the Resthaven Funeral Home.

About a month ago, more than a year after the funeral, Sweeney’s family announced that the winner of the Volkswagen Bug was teenager Gabriella Bonham.

“Diane was every young person’s biggest supporter,” Singleterry said, “and the fact that her car is going to a young person from rural Oklahoma — not so far from where she grew up — would make her proud.”

An archival photo of Diane Sweeney.Courtesy Suzanne Singleterry

An Oklahoma family recently announced the winner of a car raffle held in one of the most unusual ways: at their loved one’s funeral. Diane Sweeney died last year from an unexpected illness, and her funeral had a large turnout once it was announced that her 2016 Volkswagen Beetle would be raffled. “It was her last wish, facilitated by her niece and nephew and many others,” her niece Suzanne Singleterry told FOX Television Stations. The raffle was also facilitated by the Resthaven Funeral Home.

At the time, Bonham, then 15, had just gotten her driver’s permit and was expected to inherit a 2007 Ford Edge that her grandparents owned and later passed down to her older sisters. More than a year after the funeral, the now 16-year-old, assumed that someone else won the Volkswagen and ended up driving the family’s Ford Edge.

Then Bonham got the call from Rick Ingram, Sweeney’s nephew, last month that she won the raffle after his late aunt’s legal affairs were in order, the newspaper reported.​​

Bonham has owned the Volkswagen for a few weeks now, and she’s been able to drive to her theater classes in Oklahoma City without having to ask her sisters to borrow their cars or hitch rides through them.

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“I’ve gained a lot of freedom,” she told thePost.

PEOPLE reached out to Bonham family for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.

A teen won a Volkswagen that formerly belonged to Diane Sweeney.Courtesy Suzanne Singleterry

An Oklahoma family recently announced the winner of a car raffle held in one of the most unusual ways: at their loved one’s funeral. Diane Sweeney died last year from an unexpected illness, and her funeral had a large turnout once it was announced that her 2016 Volkswagen Beetle would be raffled. “It was her last wish, facilitated by her niece and nephew and many others,” her niece Suzanne Singleterry told FOX Television Stations. The raffle was also facilitated by the Resthaven Funeral Home.

Singleterry told thePosther aunt would be delighted to know her beloved car is giving a teen a newfound sense of freedom.

“It was a reflection of herself and her sense of humor,” Singleterry said of her aunt’s final wish, “and wanting to go out making people feel happy and giving them one last laugh.”

source: people.com