Sanders, Rachel Elizabeth 1915-2006

SANDERS, MOXLEY, BARNS, FALLS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 9/9/2014 at 09:54:45

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register
July 24, 2006

RACHEL E. SANDERS

Rachel Elizabeth Sanders, 91, of Grinnell died Friday, July 21, 2006, at St. Francis Manor.

A funeral service was held at 1:30 p.m. today (Monday) at First Baptist Church with the Rev. Tim Stewart, pastor of the church, officiating. Organist was Denise Baustian. Casket bearers included Joseph Johnson, Geoffrey Johnson, Jotsie Johnson, Howard Raffety, Charlene Rigelman, Kerby Rigelman and Leslie Barns Hagan. Burial was in Hickory Grove Cemetery near Newburg.

She was born March 12, 1915, at the original Grinnell Hospital at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Elm Street to Frank Adams Barns, a rural mail carrier, and his wife Mabel Elizabeth Moxley Barns, a country school teacher and housewife. She was a graduate of Grinnell High School with the class of 1932, after which she attended the kindergarten-primary course at Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls for one year. She taught for two years at Pleasant No. 7 rural school of eight students near Montezuma. She returned to Iowa State Teachers College for the second year of the kindergarten-primary course, earning her diploma, then taught for two years at Sheridan No. 4 and Sheridan No. 5 rural schools near Grinnell, after which she taught at the Searsboro Consolidated School. She was married to James Richard Sanders Nov. 30, 1941, in the home of her parents, with the Rev. William F. Long of Calvary Baptist Church officiating. She was a lifelong member of First Baptist Church in Grinnell. After both her children were in school, she returned to teaching by substituting in the Grinnell schools, having felt the call to reenter the teaching profession after hearing the schoolbell ring at neighboring Cooper School while hanging out laundry.

She was a member of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Order of Eastern Star and Women's Literary Club. She had a spontaneous affection for children and was a prolific letter writer.

She is survived by one daughter, Elizabeth Jean Sanders of Cedar Rapids and one son, James Robert Sanders of Falls Church, Va. She was preceded in death by her husband and one sister Lucille Falls.