Velna Elizabeth Sumner Sanders

Velna Elizabeth Sumner Sanders 
November 25, 1935 – May 13, 2024

    Velna Elizabeth Sumner Sanders, 88, was born in Asheboro, N.C. on November 25, 1935 to George H. Sumner, MD and Velna Welborn Sumner. She adored them and revered her father as a kind soul, loving father, and wonderful doctor. Elizabeth grew up playing paper dolls and admiring her brother who would become a vascular surgeon, David Spurgeon Sumner, MD. She married her high school sweetheart, William Eugene Sanders (Bill), and they were married for 59 years prior to his death in 2017. 

    Elizabeth was a lifelong student and teacher. She graduated from her beloved University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Nursing and later attained a Masters in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Early in her career, she briefly worked as a pediatric nurse in Randolph County Hospital and later spent 20 years as an elementary school librarian in the Greensboro City Schools.
 
      From childhood when she watched Charlie Choo Choo Justice play football in Chapel Hill until her final years, she adored attending UNC football games and watching UNC basketball games. Her favorite vacation, a yearly event, was “the beach trip” which encompassed the Sanders and Sumner extended family including her brother and his wife, Martha Sumner and their children Vance Sumner, Mary Butler (husband Eric), and John Sumner.

       A faithful servant of God, Elizabeth sang in the choir and taught an adult Sunday school class for over 30 years at St. Paul Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. When Elizabeth and Bill returned to Asheboro in 2000, they resumed their attendance at First United Methodist Church, the church in which Elizabeth had grown up and where she and Bill were married in 1957. Elizabeth was an active member of the Col. Andrew Balfour chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

     She was a loving mother to William E. Sanders, Jr. (Gene) MD, JD and George H. S. Sanders, MD who always relied on her support and wisdom. Her love and tenderness were extended to all but enveloped the remaining family including Margaret Herbst Sanders (wife of Gene), Julie Vernon Sanders (wife of George), grandchildren Christine Sanders Walker, DPT and husband David Walker, William (Bill) Sanders III, DPT and wife Amanda Sanders, MD, David Sanders and wife Laura Sanders, JD, John Sanders and wife Shannon Sanders, and great grandchildren Virginia Walker, Jackson Walker, Marissa Sanders, Weston Sanders, and Matthew Sanders.
 
     Unfortunately, due to Alzheimer’s disease her memory had slowly faded during the last several years. The family wants to express their sincere gratitude to Elizabeth’s wonderful full-time caregivers during the last two years, Sandy Johnson, Betty Starrett, Susan Blackwood, and Tanya Burrow.  
    The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church, 224 N. Fayetteville Street, Asheboro, NC 27203.

    The service will be held at 2:00 Sunday afternoon, May 19, 2024 at First United Methodist Church, Asheboro with Rev. Lynda Ferguson presiding.  Visitation will be from 1:00-1:45 in the church parlor.  Interment will be held at Oaklawn Cemetery.