Catherine Veney
North Capital at Plymouth
Washington, D.C.

Catherine Floyd was born in Saluda, South Carolina in 1934, the 7th of 12 children.  At the age of three, her mother took her from church to church to preach the gospel.  While attending beautician school, in her spare time she drove a cab from 1960 to 1968 and worked for many years in a dry cleaning establishment.  She has been active in the church community all of her life, and is currently a member of St. Joseph Baptist Church, Washington, DC. 

She married her husband Paul Veney in 1954.  Together they have a son and daughter, five grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.  She cared for her husband during his illness until he passed away in 1999.  She has been a Good Samaritan, caring for members of her family and cooking and cleaning for them when they needed help.  When Ms. Veney made Washington, DC her home, she preached on radio and TV stations with the late Pete Green, and they called her “Brown Sugar.”  She also continued to serve the poor and the needy, giving out food through many churches and helping the homeless with clothing and food.  She performed voluntary missionary work for the DC Supreme Court helping persons in prison programs to keep them off drugs and get them jobs. 

She moved into North Capitol at Plymouth in February 2005, and continues to help the sick and the shut-in.  Resident Manager June Daly says that, on the eve of Thanksgiving, Ms. Veney gave out 25 turkeys to the residents who needed them, and on Thanksgiving Day, she cooked and baked two turkeys for Thanksgiving Dinner for North Capitol residents who did not have somewhere to go that day.

A member of the Resident Council says, “She has gospel programs, which consist of singing groups, dinners for the various holidays, and parties in order to get the residents who don’t have places to go out of their apartments.  She visits residents and does for them things they cannot do for themselves.  She makes their doors look beautiful.  When it’s time for one of her planned functions, she will start cooking two or three days ahead of time preparing a large feast.  When there is food left over, she will insist that they take a plate to their apartments.  She will spend her last dime to purchase food and medicine for residents or anyone else.  She will take them places when they don’t have a ride to get there.  She will pray with them and for them.  She is never too busy to help anyone whenever they call her.  She is the chairperson of the Sick Committee at North Capitol at Plymouth.  She is one of a kind, because when God made her, He broke the mold.”

Retirement Housing Foundation is pleased to recognize Catherine Veney as our 2007 Resident of the Year.