Patricia Ann (Pat) Sanders, 89 of Arab passed away Friday, November 11, 2022, at Regency Retirement Village in Huntsville. Pat was born in Hermitage, Arkansas, October 8, 1933, and was one of seven children born to Tima Victoria Wright. After completing high school and working for an insurance company in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, she moved, along with her mother and siblings, to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1955, working for Ryder System Truck Rental. She also kept books for a “Flying A” service station in Belmont, California, where she met its owner, Dewey Sanders. Dewey and Pat were married in 1959 and journeyed together until his death in 2013. He remained the love of her life. Together with their 3 boys – Dan, Phil, and Eric – Pat and Dewey settled in Los Gatos, California, living there until 1993, when Dewey retired, relocating to Alabama to own and operate a poultry farm near Snead. They finally moved to Arab in 1995, running the farm from there. Pat remained there until March 2022.
Pat was a homemaker and raised her family full time, but she stayed busy in the community – whether in Los Gatos or Arab – both volunteering her time and contributing to causes that she believed in. In her young adulthood, Pat was an active officer in the local chapter of the National Federation of Republican Women. She was a den mother in the Cub Scouts. She collected for the Heart Fund, door-to-door. She loved music and played both piano and organ. She would play many evenings a week for the family, with Dewey often singing along. After moving to Arab, Pat volunteered with CASA of Marshall County, working the Food Pantry and driving residents-in-need to their medical appointments in Marshall County, Cullman, Huntsville, and Birmingham. She also volunteered with B-Team Earth Angels and the Arab Historical Society.
And wherever she lived at the time, she was always active with the churches she attended.
Pat was preceded in death by her husband Dewey and survived by her sons Lewis (Dan) Sanders and Eric Sanders. She was preceded in death by her son Phil Sanders, as well as sisters Dolores Hickman (Frank), Judy Phillips (Dick), Betty Musacchio (George), Sarah Pinson (Mick), and brothers Dewey Wright and Carey Eugene (Gene) Wright. She had 20 nieces and nephews, as well as numerous treasured “extended family” members who so greatly enriched her life.
In keeping with Pat’s wishes, there will be no formal memorial service held, Gober Funeral Chapel assisted the Sanders family with cremation arrangements.
