Sara Anne Shea Ransdell

On December 21, 1932 Sara Anne Shea was born in Spartanburg, SC to George A. and Carrie S. Shea. Anne was their only and much loved child. Anne loved to read and did well in school. She graduated from Spartanburg High in 1951 and went on to Randolph-Macon Woman's College (now Randolph College) in Lynchburg, VA. As she graduated with an English degree in 1955, Anne thought she would move to New York and write for a magazine.

Her father had other plans and offered to pay for her to go to law school instead. Anne agreed and enrolled at the University of North Carolina. After attending a women's college, Anne experienced a large upgrade in her social life as the only woman in her law school class. In 1958 Anne graduated, passed the North Carolina Bar Exam, and married classmate William G. "Buck" Ransdell, Jr. The new couple moved to Raleigh.

Buck practiced law and Anne was a homemaker. They had a son, Bucky, in 1960. After Buck's death in 1991, Anne lived alone contentedly for about 20 years before moving to The Cypress of Raleigh, where she experienced another big upgrade to her social life. She loved her time there, making many good friends.

After a brief period of declining health, Anne died peacefully on July 1, 2026 with family at her side. She is survived by her son Bucky and his wife Lynne, granddaughter Carol Bonds and her husband Jesse Bardyn, granddaughter Rachel Bonds and her husband Robbie Saenz de Viteri, great-grandchildren Sadler and Phoebe Bardyn and Quinn and Tavi Saenz de Viteri, and Ransdell family sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews.

Anne's funeral will be held at 2:00 pm on July 8 at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 1520 Canterbury Road in Raleigh. Visitation will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 pm on July 7 at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 1701 East Millbrook Road in Raleigh.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The family of Anne Shea Ransdell wishes to thank Dr. Todd Helton, the Rex Hospital Heart Failure Clinic, and the staffs of The Cypress and The Rosewood Health Center for their excellent and kind care.