Margaret Sanders Obituary

Margaret Emma Broeker (Margaret B. Sanders) was born September 22, 1915 to Margaretha C. Bayer Broeker and John Fred Carl Broeker, in Lawrence. She died, age 102, on November 16, 2017, at Pioneer Ridge Nursing Facility, in Lawrence.

When Margaret was six months old, the family moved to 341 Lincoln Street, in North Lawrence, where Margaret lived until 2016. She recalled that when she was in the second grade, at the nearby Woodlawn School, the building burned. Until the new Woodlawn School, at Fifth and Elm Streets, was completed, local students of color attended Lincoln School in the morning and white children in the afternoon.

Margaret crossed the river to attend junior high school and then Liberty Memorial High School, from which she graduated in 1932. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree at KU, in 1936, with a certificate to teach at the high school level. No teaching positions being available, she took a job in the office of the Bullene-Skinner Motor Company (the Dodge-Plymouth dealership), in the 600 block of Massachusetts Street. She continued there as the dealership changed ownership to become the Bullene-Skinner Motor Company, then the Ransdell-Skinner Motor Company, and, last as Ransdell Motor Service. When Mr. Ransdell sold the company, she took a positon with the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, where she took a lead role in managing operations. She continued in that role for 25 years, until retirement.

Among many memories of life in Lawrence, Margaret remembered hearing accounts of the 1903 flood, noting that the Kaw River had risen to the level of one foot above the first floor of the house at 341 Lincoln. She and her parents lived through the 1951 flood, when the level of water rose seven feet higher than the 1903 occurrence, also burying the lily ponds and a swimming pool north of the house.

Margaret enjoyed traveling, notably a trip, with her sister, Marianne C. Hadl, to Germany to attend the 350th anniversary performance of the passion play in Oberammergau. She was a member of NARFE (National Association of Retired Federal Employees) and, as an avid photographer, of the Lawrence Color Camera Club. She donated her large collection of photo slides, many of them images of the Douglas County area, as well as selected family papers, to the Spencer Research Library, at KU, creating the Margaret Broeker Sanders Collection.

In 1985, Margaret married Raymond W. ("Tag") Sanders. He preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Fred E. Broeker; her sister, Marianne C. Hadl; her nephew Fred Hadl; and step-daughter, Nancy P. Sanders. She is survived by nephews David (Gay) Hadl and George (Bonnye) Hadl; niece Margaret Isabella (Rick) Hendrix; step-daughter, Kathryn S. (John R. ["Jack"]) Wilson, step son-in-law William J. ('Bill") Crowe, and step-granddaughter, Katherine M. Crowe, of Denver, Colorado.

Memorials may be made to the charity of the donors choice in care of the Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, PO Box 1260, Lawrence KS 66044.

Graveside Services were held at Memorial Park Cemetery. Online condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com