VIRGINIA COOKE SMITH SAUNDERS
Virginia Cooke Smith Saunders, age 71, wife of retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. William Saunders, passed away on Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, with her husband by her side.
She was born in 1947 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, a daughter of the late Charles D.J. and Virginia Cooke Smith. She grew up in Attleboro, attending school and graduating from Attleboro High School in 1965. She attended Vermont College in Montpelier, Vermont, and received an associate degree in early childhood education in 1967. Following her marriage, she and her husband traveled the United States with his military postings. They settled in Rehoboth in 1973, where she took her love of children to the Rehoboth school system, after having become a Stevenson reading instructor and later a certified Wilson instructor. In July of 2016, she and Bill relocated to Sumter full time. As a child she summered on Martha's Vineyard at her family's home in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Her love of the island and the multiple generations it reflected were instilled in her children. After 24 years of education, she retired to spend time with her grandchildren. She cherished the winters she spent in South Carolina with her daughter and enjoyed the trips to Texas to visit her "gang." Her passions in retirement became embroidery and genealogy. Her hobby guaranteed personalized clothes for everyone. Her dedication to the family histories gave her enormous satisfaction that her children and grandchildren would know of their ancestors. She traced her heritage back through the Civil War, American Revolution, early settlers in the colonies and for Western Europe. She was an active member in the Daughters of the American Revolution in chapters in both Attleboro and Sumter.
Besides her husband of 50 years, she is survived by her daughter, Kathleen J. Lee and her husband, retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Robert N. Lee Jr. of Sumter; her son, Brendan J. Saunders and his wife, Tracy, of Cypress, Texas; two brothers, James Smith of Colorado and Leland Smith of New York; and four grandchildren, Kayla, Nicholas and Joseph Saunders of Cypress and Edward Lee of Sumter.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the Bullock Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow at 1 p.m. at the Fort Jackson National Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday at Bullock Funeral Home.
You may go to www.bullockfuneralhome.com and sign the family's guest book.
The family has chosen Bullock Funeral Home for the arrangements.