Mrs. Juanita Christine Sanford, 95, of Braselton, passed away Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, surrounded by loved ones.
She was born in Gilmer County to the late Bascom and Belle Sutton Derden.
She is preceded in death by husband, Willard Doyle Sanford; and several siblings.
She is survived by son, Ray David Sanford, of Gainesville; daughter, Judy Brooks, of Hoschton; granddaughter, Christine Mock Johnson and husband, Ron, of Lavonia; great-granddaughter, Victoria Christine Miller and husband, Tyler, of Braselton; great-grandson, John-Christian Mullins, of Hoschton; and great-great-granddaughter, Evelyn Cannon, of Braselton; sisters, Geneva Colvard and Marie Holt; and several nieces and nephews.
She was cherished and adored by her family and will be terribly missed.
She was a civil servant who went to Hawaii during World War II, and packed emergency parachutes for United States Army Air Corps military pilots.
Congressman Doug Collins had a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol on July 4, 2020, in honor of her civil service.
She was a homemaker and a member of the Jefferson Avenue Baptist in East Point, and later a member of Zion Baptist Church in Braselton.
At each church, she cared for decades of babies in the nursery, cooked and cleaned for funerals and other functions and volunteered her time and talents for anything that was needed. She was loving, kind and caring, and she would help anyone in need.
She prayed daily for God to help her be “ever mindful of the needs of others.”
She loved reading and was a founding member of the Braselton Library which she volunteered her time weekly to staff the library for decades. She was instrumental in the establishment of the scholarship fund that the library currently offers.
She was a member of the Lions Club, and each year would sell brooms and mops to raise money for eyeglasses and vision surgery for the needy. She would cook for each meeting, and to this day, people still talk about how good her French bread was and how they miss eating all the other wonderful things that she would cook. She was also a longtime member of the Braselton Woman’s Club.
A graveside service was held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, in the Georgia National Cemetery with the Rev. Ken May officiating.
Condolences can be made at www.evansfuneralhomeinc.com.
Evans Funeral Home in Jefferson was in charge of arrangements.