Oklahoma teen wins Volkswagen Beetle after attending a stranger's funeral

This may be the most unusual way to have won a car.

Garbriella Bonham, a 16 year old from Oklahoma, has won a VW Beetle by attending a funeral last month— fulfilling the last wish of a woman she had never even met. 

"Every person that I've told about it has said, ‘Oh my gosh. That's what I should do whenever I pass away.’ Or, ‘I should do something like that at my funeral.’ I think that it's really cool to see something good happen and the effect that it makes on other people who weren't directly involved in it. Just people want to do good things. It's amazing." But that's the way the late woman wanted it. Diane Sweeney died suddenly on July 7, 2022 — and just a few weeks before had told her nephew that when she died, she wanted to gift one of her prized possessions — a 2016 Volkswagen Beetle — to someone who attended the funeral.

Bonham talked two of her older sisters and some cousins into going with her to the service — and what started out as a fun adventure turned into a more meaningful experience than she ever imagined. 

"They put together the slideshows and everything and so it was just interesting to feel like you knew someone that you had never met before. They said that she was a very funny and fun person to be around and that she loved her family and church. It definitely seemed like she was a generous person."

Out of the blue, Bonham said, she got a phone call that changed her life — or at least her ability to get around town. 

She was experiencing issues with her current car and it was no longer reliable.

"I wasn't expecting it at all," Bonham said. "I was just in a hotel room with my family because we were currently on a trip. They just told me and I was standing in the middle of the room, just so shocked. My parents were trying to guess what it was. They were like, ‘What happened? Are you OK? Who is it?’ After I got off the phone, we all got excited and called all of our family members who knew that I went to the funeral."

Sweeney's nephew Rick Ingram said it was a lot of fun making the call and hearing the excitement of Bonham’s family in the background. "The perfect winner was drawn," Ingram said. 

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