Anne Sanders

Anne Maddox Sanders of Laurel died Sunday July 31, 2011 at Comfort Care Nursing Home in Laurel. Memorial services will be held at the First United Methodist Church at 11:00 am Wednesday. Rev Timothy Beard will be officiating. The family will receive friends in the atrium of the church from 9:30 am until prior to the service. Mrs. Sanders was a native of Laurel and attended local schools and Blue Mountain College. She began her journalism career at the Laurel Leader Call where she spent 33 years, beginning as club reporter and retiring as the first female managing editor of a daily newspaper in Mississippi. She also served as news editor of the Manhattan Mercury Chronicle in Manhattan, Kansas and was the owner of the Progress-Item in Ellisville for several years. She won many state and National writing awards during her career and was listed in “Who’s Who of American Women with World Notables”. Mrs. Sanders gave back to her community by serving 20 years on the board of directors of United Way; 16 years on the City Planning Commission; 12 years on the zoning board; a board member of the Jones County chapter of American Red Cross; Cancer Crusade and the Heart Association. She was docent at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art and life member of the Junior Auxiliary. She was actively involved in the Jones County Republican Women and the Republican Party. Deeply concerned about the reading ability of children in the area, she volunteered each week to help first graders with their reading skills. As long as her health permitted, Mrs. Sanders was an active member of First United Methodist Church, having served on the board of stewards, the alter Guild and Women of the Church. She taught floral design in the adult education program at Laurel High School for several years and shared her love for flowers with family and friends. IN 2004, her autobiography titled “Off the Record” was published. It chronicled her 45 years as journalist and personal happenings. She was preceded in death by her parents, James Charles Maddox and Terrie Copeland Maddox and two sisters, Wilma M. Stone and Patricia M. Garrett. She is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Jimmy and Donna Sanders of Topeka, KS; two daughters and sons-in-law, Suzell Sanders Cain and David Cain of Hattiesburg and Shana Sanders Riles and Stan Riles of Laurel; seven grandchildren, Jessica S. Pegues, Cydney S. Rogers, Casey Cain, Chad Cain, Nicole C. Schumer, Dash Cessna and Virginia Riles; and six great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers memorials may be sent to First United Methodist Church of Laurel and American Heart Association. Memory Chapel of Laurel is in charge of the arrangement.

Anne Sanders

July 7, 1925 - July 31, 2011