KILMARNOCK—Anita Sue Sanders, 82, of Kilmarnock, affectionately known as “Nita,” passed away peacefully on September 28, 2024, at Commonwealth Senior Living in Kilmarnock.
Anita was born January 22, 1942, to William E. “Bill” and Margaret Powers Sanders of White Stone. She was predeceased by her older sister, Joanne Sanders Pheris.
Anita is survived by her brother, William Bruce Sanders and his wife, Martha Moss Sanders; her former sister-in-law, Julia B. Geier; as well as her brother’s children, spouses and children: Charlotte, James, Abbie Dora and Rose Alexander; Ansel, Helen, Field, Walker and Stuart Sanders; and Anne, Alston, Tallulah and Finn Jones. Anita is also survived by the children of sister, Joanne: Kyle Hall, Tina Hall, Brent Hall and his son, William. Anita loved and cherished her nieces, nephews and grands.
Anita is descended from generations of the Sanders family who lived in White Stone and Kilmarnock since Colonial times.
Anita spent an idyllic childhood growing up in White Stone on Mosquito Creek enjoying what is known today as “river life.” During summers she was swimming in the river, crabbing on the dock or skiing or fishing in the boat. She skated on the pond in times past when ice actually froze hard in the winter. She loved grooming and riding her pony “Nellie.”
Anita graduated from Saint Margaret’s School in 1960 and attended Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hills, Massachusetts, before graduating from Mary Washington College. After college she taught biology at Saint Anne’s School in Charlottesville.
In 1968, Anita made a career change and moved to New York City. There she attended Bernard Baruch College studying graduate level business administration before becoming a financial controller of an airline management consulting firm whose principal client was Pan American Airways. During this time Pan Am was in its heyday of luxury air travel and Anita was afforded the opportunity to travel worldwide.
The airline industry was deregulated in 1978 and Pan Am began a gradual decline. In 1983 after her father passed away, Anita moved back to Mosquito Creek to live with her mother. She became county administrator for Lancaster County until 1992. She finished her working career in 2005 as an executive vice president of the Bank of Lancaster.
Anita lived her retirement years at Heatherfield in Kilmarnock. She enjoyed her solitude, but she was also a charming and engaging lady with an honest, dry sense of humor and a knack for conversational playfulness. She had uncanny observational powers.
The family wishes to express appreciation to the team of doctors and nurses at Bon Secours Cancer Institute at Rappahannock General and the team at Commonwealth Senior Living as well as Hospice aids and nurses who, along with family provided compassionate care for Anita during her three-year struggle to live.
A gathering of family and friends for a celebration of Anita‘s life will be planned at a later date. Anita’s ashes will be interred at White Stone Methodist Church along with generations of the Sanders family.
Please consider donations to Rappahannock General Cancer Institute and Hospice of Virginia, Tappahannock.
