Margaret Esther Sanders, 80, passed away on February 9, 2019, at The Groves in Independence, Mo., where she was a resident for the past 5 years. She suffered from vascular dementia for more than 11 years.
Margaret was born on January 27, 1939, in Cameron, Mo. She was the daughter of Ora Basil Hancock and Ruth Ilene Moss. She was the 8th-born of their 12 children, and grew up on a farm in the country, outside of Pattonsburg, Mo.
She was a 1956 graduate of Pattonsburg High School.
Years later, Margaret told her own children many stories of her childhood: She fetched eggs from the henhouse, careful to watch for snakes that would slip inside to steal a chick or an egg. She learned from her mother to bake delicious pies, potato dinner rolls, and Christmas cookies. She helped her mother can jars of fruit and vegetables for the winter, and stored them in a dirt-floor cellar. Margaret learned to care for a garden and watched over younger siblings. She listened to the radio in the evenings, went to town on Saturday nights (where she learned to do the jitterbug), and attended a small country church on Sundays where she became a Christian and met her future husband.
Margaret married Ervin Edgar Sanders on November 28, 1957, at the Santa Rosa Baptist Church in Santa Rosa, Mo. Together, they raised three children. When they were young, Ervin’s career took them to Quincy, Washington, and Boise, Idaho. They returned to Missouri in 1966 and soon became active members of Susquehanna Baptist Church, Independence, Mo. The couple enjoyed teaching children in Vacation Bible School together. Margaret sang in the choir and headed the church’s Kitchen Committee and Flower Committee for many years. She enjoyed baking food gifts for people in the congregation, and often surprised the homebound members with pies or cookies. She loved little children and enjoyed serving in the church’s nursery, where she rocked the babies to sleep.
Her parents; her husband; two sisters and six brothers preceded Margaret in death. Her youngest sister, Mabel (Hancock) Montgomery, just passed away on January 29, 2019.
Survivors include: her daughter, Brenda Sanders of Independence, Mo.; her sons and daughters-in-law, Alan and Shirley (Conwell) Sanders of Independence, and Linn and Katrina (Williams) Sanders of Blue Springs, Mo.; her granddaughters, Jourdain Sanders of Columbia, Mo., and Jessica Sanders of Blue Springs; and three step-grandchildren, Heather Mann, April Freeman and Jeremy Perkins; two sisters, Mildred (Hancock) Huff of Pattonsburg, and Mary (Hancock) Frazier of Cameron, Mo.; and her brother, Herschel Hancock of St. Joseph, Mo.; a brother-in-law, Lester Sanders of Independence, and sister-in-law, Eurma (Sanders) Sperry of Pattonsburg; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held on February 15, 2019, at Newcomer’s Noland Road Chapel, 509 S. Noland Road, Independence, Mo. 64050. Visitation will begin that morning at 10:00 a.m. and the funeral service will begin at 11:00 a.m.
Burial will follow at Floral Hills East Memorial Gardens, 25203 E. US Highway 50, Lee’s Summit, MO 64086.
