Mary Ann Moody Sanders, 78, of Fitzgerald, Georgia, died Sunday, December 19, 2021, at Dorminy Medical Center in Fitzgerald, Georgia.
Funeral services will be held 2 PM, Wednesday, December 22, 2021, at The Paulk Funeral Home Chapel in Fitzgerald, Georgia, with the Rev. Ricky Kellum officiating. Interment will follow in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Turner County. The family will receive friends from 6-8 Tuesday evening at the funeral home in Fitzgerald.
Mrs. Sanders was born February 28, 1943, in Ben Hill County, Georgia, to the late Seaborn Lee & Pauline Coleman Moody. She worked as a packer in citrus packing plants. She loved fishing and birdwatching and seeing the deer feed in the yard. Mrs. Sanders was a devoted wife and mother who raised 7 children of her own and would later adopt and raise 4 grandchildren as her own. She enjoyed dancing, especially at the Colony City Opry on Saturday nights. She will be remembered for her cooking, in particular for her homemade biscuits.
She is survived by her sons: Wilburn Lee Sanders of Fitzgerald, Billy Wayne Sanders of Fitzgerald, Donald Sanders of Fitzgerald and Michael Sanders of Ocilla; daughters: Annie Watts of Fitzgerald, Reber & Jimmy Byrd of Ocilla, Christy Dietzel of Lagrange and Eva Mae Sanders of Fitzgerald; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and two sisters: Sudie M. Musslewhite of Fitzgerald and Sylvia M. Wiley of Ashburn. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Billy Lee Sanders; three children: Glen Dale “Moody Boy” Sanders, Sheila Sanders Sheppard, and Melody Jane Mitchell; a granddaughter, Destiny Hope Sanders; two great-grandsons: Caiden Alexander Sanders and Roy Lee Heflin; four sisters: Bernice Black, Reba Whitley, Velma Mitchell and Ruth Wright; and two brothers: Curtis Moody & Richard Moody.