Thanks to Debbie Miller for forwarding this obit on Maudine Sanders:

 

Maudine Sanders, Former Newspaper Owner, Dies

By Steve Caraway

scaraway@nwaonline.com

 

SPRINGDALE — Maudine Sanders, 87, an owner of the Springdale News, died Friday.

Sanders worked at the paper, the forerunner to the Springdale Morning News, for several years before buying part of the business.

Her duties included writing obituaries and wedding announcements. She seemed to know everyone in Springdale, said her cousin, Wilma Sutton.

“She was so knowledgeable about the community she could talk to anyone,” Sutton said. “Springdale was the love of her life.”

Sanders was born April 4, 1923, in the Stony Point community, southwest of Springdale on Arkansas 112, to Thomas William and Elizabeth Hanks Farish. She attended school in Stoney Point and Lowell before graduating from Rogers High School.

She graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in home economics in 1946 and managed the family canning factories until the business was sold to Steele Canning.

Sanders started working at the canning factory early, said Don Williams, a native of Lowell.

“When she was 16 years old, I would see her in the mornings driving a truck on the dirt roads picking up workers for her father’s factory,” Don Williams said. “After she would drop them off, she would go on to school.”

After the factory sold, she became a bookkeeper for the News in 1948.

Her duties increased to writing, proofreading and editing. She became a part owner of Springdale Publishing Company in 1955 and increased her share of the business in 1958 when another owner retired. The company ran the News as well as a commercial printing operation.

She married T.C. Sanders on May 6, 1960. His brother, Bob, sold his part of the publishing company to T.C., Maudine and another brother, Charles Sanders. T.C. ran the commercial printing, Charles was editor of the newspaper and Maudine was office manager and secretary-treasurer of the company.

Jim Morriss, who started at the News as a paperboy and retired as executive editor, worked with Sanders for years.

“She was a detail person,” Morriss said. “She made sure you were accurate to the nth degree. Weddings and obituaries were the only times some people would be in the paper. She wanted to make sure it was right.”

She was a former president of the Arkansas Press Women’s Association.

Charlotte Schexnayder, longtime publisher and editor of the Dumas Clarion, said Sanders gave 100 percent to any cause she backed.

The Sanderses sold the company to Donrey Media in 1973 and retired.

Maudine Sanders served as an officer of the Springdale Business and Professional Women’s Club, was a member of the Springdale Kiwanis Club and the First United Methodist Church. She was a member of the Arts Center of the Ozarks.

The Sanders Education Trust contributed to Springdale schools including money for the Black Stallion reading program, said her friend Joanna Williams.

Sanders traveled extensively and the trust sponsored a travel film series at the arts center.

She served as president and treasurer for multiple terms on the board of trustees of the Shiloh Museum.

“She was instrumental in developing the fundraising for our new building,” said Bob Besom, former director of the museum.

“She knew the community and everyone knew her,” said Besom. “She meant a lot to themuseum and the town.”

She was preceded in death by her husband, T.C. Sanders; one brother, Thomas Marion Farish; and one nephew, Edward Lynn Farish.
She is survived by numerous nieces, nepwhews and cousins.
Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Judy Van Hoose officiating.
Visitation will be today (Tuesday) from 2 to 4 p.m. at Sisco Funeral Chapel of Springdale.
Honorary pallbearers are Bill Bailey, Don Bailey, Gene Bailey, Dan Sanders, Jeff
Sanders, Tex Holt, and Don Williams.

Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church Foundation, 206 W. Johnson Ave., Springdale, AR 72764; or, Sanders Educational Trust, c/o Springdale
Kiwanis Club, P.O. Box 652, Springdale, AR 72765.
Online condolences may be made to www.siscofuneral.com.