Rosemary Sanders, 96, crossed over Jordan July 7, 2020, in Lecanto, Florida. Born on January 20, 1924, she spent her childhood in Central City, Kentucky, where she met her husband, Jack.
They married in Chicago in 1942 and for 56 years lived a magical life together in seven states, having two daughters along the way. After she lost her husband and confidant in 1998, Rosemary marched on to live a full and fruitful life for another twenty years—even traveling around the world on the Queen Elizabeth with her sister, Martha, at 78 and celebrating her 90th birthday in Las Vegas with family and friends.
No matter where she lived, Rosemary brought joy into the lives of all who knew her and was an inspirational mentor and friend to many. She was the life of the party, the hostess with the mostest, and pretty much a mini celebrity wherever she went. Whatever task or game or delight before her–be it decorating a home, cooking a meal for her family, playing tennis or bridge, walking and traveling with her friends, working crossword puzzles or whistling the blues— she embraced it with all her heart and soul.
Over the years, Rosemary was proudest of her grandchildren, who affectionately called her Moppa. Their words capture her spirit best. “Moppa was Neverland for Grandchildren, the bad Mamma Jamma. Also formidable she once killed a snake with a steam iron. She was a ray of sunshine on my face and had a keen eye for the finer side of living, not a pillow out of place or a sheet unironed. Moppa was my biggest cheerleader,a rock, larger than life,a mover and a shaker, always growing and learning new things and dancing, sweet but sassy, dressed to the nines. She could annihilate you on the tennis court and inexplicably make you feel good about it – just completely present when she was with you. Words don’t do her justice. If there ever was doubt she truly believed in me, I never saw it, not once.”
Rosemary is preceded in death by her parents, Sadie Nunley Jones and Mitchum “Pat” Nunley, her husband, Jack Sanders, her sisters, Ruth Peacock, Eloise Stirsman, and Patty Beaver, her granddaughter, Martha Cook, and her great grandson, Samuel Carroll. She is survived by her sister, Martha Vanderspool, her daughters Mary Milan Cook(George) and Betsy Schneider-Akins (Bruce), her grandchildren Mary Catherine Cook (AL), Matthew Cook (Heather), Andrew Cook (Lanette) , Milan Davis (Jeannine), Katie Carroll (Justin), Elizabeth Walker (Gerald), Jenny Beckhorn and Rosemary Cook, her great grandchildren , Zachary, Jeremiah, Grace, Maddie, Sophie, Sadie, Alex, Emma Catherine, Caroline, Liam, Chloe, Violet, Harrison, Rosemary, Ethan and Mitchum, and her great great grandchildren Jacob, Matthew, Sadie Grace and Emma Jane.
The family would like to thank the Oxford Unit staff at Diamond Ridge in Lecanto for their loving care of our beloved Mom and Moppa in her final two years. We will be eternally grateful.
A graveside service will be held at the family cemetery in Tennessee when the pandemic subsides. Private Cremation with Care by Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home with Crematory, Inverness, FL.
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