Lois Philpot Sandusky died December 4, 2023, at the age of 95, surrounded by her children and grandchildren and many of her friends. Her husband, Dr. Walter Cooper Sandusky, Jr., preceded her in death in 2016, after 67 years of marriage.
Her life was full of marriage, children, church, and gatherings of friends. A member since 1949 of First Baptist Church, she served in many capacities there, chief among them leader of children's choirs, soloist and member of the Chancel Choir, president of the Women's Missionary Union, director of Girls' Auxiliary, and—most importantly—Sunday School teacher until the day her eyesight no longer allowed her to study.
Lois Sandusky was born in Houston, Mississippi, where her father Dr. Van Buren Philpot, who owned the hospital, served as the only surgeon in North Mississippi at the time and where her mother, Lois Atkinson Philpot, demonstrated creativity through growing flowers and taking care of her friends with generous and beautiful parties. Her three siblings, Marjorie Taylor, Grace Nelson, and Dr. Van Buren Philpot, Jr., have already gone before her.
After attending Blue Mountain College, Lois transferred to Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) where she majored in music.. She still has lifelong friends from that time, when she was a member of Chi Omega. It was while she was in Memphis in college that she met her husband, Dr. Walter Cooper Sandusky, Jr., who was studying orthodontics at the University of Tennessee. Before marrying him in 1948 she graduated from Southwestern and attended Westminster Choir School in Princeton, New Jersey.
If there is a discernible theme in her life, it is her enjoyment of others. All of her expendable time (during and after the nurturing of seven children) went into gathering people. She gathered them for the purpose of service—the church work, the accompanying of her husband on medical missionary tours, Le Bonheur service club, dental auxiliary. She gathered them for the purpose of fun—Garden Club, The Sewing Circle, various tennis groups. A proud time for all her children was when she volunteered during the AIDS crisis to provide food and transportation to sick men through the agency RAIN after the death of her close friend's son.
Lois Sandusky had lifelong friends —from Camp Kittiwake, Tupelo High School, Blue Mountain College, Southwestern University, First Baptist, and The Village at Germantown—whom she retained and deeply enjoyed throughout her life. Her life refrain was close-to-the-heart friendship.
Her life in the last 10 years was at The Village at Germantown where she lived with Walter Cooper until his death in 2016 and afterward in the company of close friends whom she developed there. Her children tried to list the friends, but there are too, too many. In the last few years of her life she organized a Hand and Foot Canasta Club and a Rummikub Hour. She also volunteered at a local elementary school where she tutored disadvantaged children in reading. She was steadfast in her devotion throughout her life, so steadfast that her brother-in-law, the Baptist minister Dotson Nelson, said a very long time ago that when she died they should sing the spiritual "Here's One." "Talk about a child who does love Jesus, Here's one. Talk about a child who's been forgiven, Here's one."
Seven children are left behind to remember her—Lois Sandusky, Libba Davis (Dick), Dale Sandusky (Michael DeCorte), Dr. Cooper Sandusky, III (Mona), Grace McLaren (James), Marie Sandusky (Elizabeth Black), and John Sandusky (Donna). Also bereft are twenty-three grandchildren and thirty-eight great-grandchildren, all of whom have had the pleasure and honor of being with her and knowing her.
Visitation: Friday, December 8, from 12:00 until 1:30, Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Avenue. Graveside service will follow at 1:30 pm.
Her life was full of marriage, children, church, and gatherings of friends. A member since 1949 of First Baptist Church, she served in many capacities there, chief among them leader of children's choirs, soloist and member of the Chancel Choir, president of the Women's Missionary Union, director of Girls' Auxiliary, and—most importantly—Sunday School teacher until the day her eyesight no longer allowed her to study.
Lois Sandusky was born in Houston, Mississippi, where her father Dr. Van Buren Philpot, who owned the hospital, served as the only surgeon in North Mississippi at the time and where her mother, Lois Atkinson Philpot, demonstrated creativity through growing flowers and taking care of her friends with generous and beautiful parties. Her three siblings, Marjorie Taylor, Grace Nelson, and Dr. Van Buren Philpot, Jr., have already gone before her.
After attending Blue Mountain College, Lois transferred to Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) where she majored in music.. She still has lifelong friends from that time, when she was a member of Chi Omega. It was while she was in Memphis in college that she met her husband, Dr. Walter Cooper Sandusky, Jr., who was studying orthodontics at the University of Tennessee. Before marrying him in 1948 she graduated from Southwestern and attended Westminster Choir School in Princeton, New Jersey.
If there is a discernible theme in her life, it is her enjoyment of others. All of her expendable time (during and after the nurturing of seven children) went into gathering people. She gathered them for the purpose of service—the church work, the accompanying of her husband on medical missionary tours, Le Bonheur service club, dental auxiliary. She gathered them for the purpose of fun—Garden Club, The Sewing Circle, various tennis groups. A proud time for all her children was when she volunteered during the AIDS crisis to provide food and transportation to sick men through the agency RAIN after the death of her close friend's son.
Lois Sandusky had lifelong friends —from Camp Kittiwake, Tupelo High School, Blue Mountain College, Southwestern University, First Baptist, and The Village at Germantown—whom she retained and deeply enjoyed throughout her life. Her life refrain was close-to-the-heart friendship.
Her life in the last 10 years was at The Village at Germantown where she lived with Walter Cooper until his death in 2016 and afterward in the company of close friends whom she developed there. Her children tried to list the friends, but there are too, too many. In the last few years of her life she organized a Hand and Foot Canasta Club and a Rummikub Hour. She also volunteered at a local elementary school where she tutored disadvantaged children in reading. She was steadfast in her devotion throughout her life, so steadfast that her brother-in-law, the Baptist minister Dotson Nelson, said a very long time ago that when she died they should sing the spiritual "Here's One." "Talk about a child who does love Jesus, Here's one. Talk about a child who's been forgiven, Here's one."
Seven children are left behind to remember her—Lois Sandusky, Libba Davis (Dick), Dale Sandusky (Michael DeCorte), Dr. Cooper Sandusky, III (Mona), Grace McLaren (James), Marie Sandusky (Elizabeth Black), and John Sandusky (Donna). Also bereft are twenty-three grandchildren and thirty-eight great-grandchildren, all of whom have had the pleasure and honor of being with her and knowing her.
Visitation: Friday, December 8, from 12:00 until 1:30, Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Avenue. Graveside service will follow at 1:30 pm.
Lois Philpot Sandusky died December 4, 2023, at the age of 95, surrounded by her children and grandchildren and many of her friends. Her husband, Dr. Walter Cooper Sandusky, Jr., preceded her in death in 2016, after 67 years of marriage.
Her life was full of marriage, children, church, and gatherings of friends. A member since 1949 of First Baptist Church, she served in many capacities there, chief among them leader of children's choirs, soloist and member of the Chancel Choir, president of the Women's Missionary Union, director of Girls' Auxiliary, and—most importantly—Sunday School teacher until the day her eyesight no longer allowed her to study.
Lois Sandusky was born in Houston, Mississippi, where her father Dr. Van Buren Philpot, who owned the hospital, served as the only surgeon in North Mississippi at the time and where her mother, Lois Atkinson Philpot, demonstrated creativity through growing flowers and taking care of her friends with generous and beautiful parties. Her three siblings, Marjorie Taylor, Grace Nelson, and Dr. Van Buren Philpot, Jr., have already gone before her.
After attending Blue Mountain College, Lois transferred to Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) where she majored in music.. She still has lifelong friends from that time, when she was a member of Chi Omega. It was while she was in Memphis in college that she met her husband, Dr. Walter Cooper Sandusky, Jr., who was studying orthodontics at the University of Tennessee. Before marrying him in 1948 she graduated from Southwestern and attended Westminster Choir School in Princeton, New Jersey.
If there is a discernible theme in her life, it is her enjoyment of others. All of her expendable time (during and after the nurturing of seven children) went into gathering people. She gathered them for the purpose of service—the church work, the accompanying of her husband on medical missionary tours, Le Bonheur service club, dental auxiliary. She gathered them for the purpose of fun—Garden Club, The Sewing Circle, various tennis groups. A proud time for all her children was when she volunteered during the AIDS crisis to provide food and transportation to sick men through the agency RAIN after the death of her close friend's son.
Lois Sandusky had lifelong friends —from Camp Kittiwake, Tupelo High School, Blue Mountain College, Southwestern University, First Baptist, and The Village at Germantown—whom she retained and deeply enjoyed throughout her life. Her life refrain was close-to-the-heart friendship.
Her life in the last 10 years was at The Village at Germantown where she lived with Walter Cooper until his death in 2016 and afterward in the company of close friends whom she developed there. Her children tried to list the friends, but there are too, too many. In the last few years of her life she organized a Hand and Foot Canasta Club and a Rummikub Hour. She also volunteered at a local elementary school where she tutored disadvantaged children in reading. She was steadfast in her devotion throughout her life, so steadfast that her brother-in-law, the Baptist minister Dotson Nelson, said a very long time ago that when she died they should sing the spiritual "Here's One." "Talk about a child who does love Jesus, Here's one. Talk about a child who's been forgiven, Here's one."
Seven children are left behind to remember her—Lois Sandusky, Libba Davis (Dick), Dale Sandusky (Michael DeCorte), Dr. Cooper Sandusky, III (Mona), Grace McLaren (James), Marie Sandusky (Elizabeth Black), and John Sandusky (Donna). Also bereft are twenty-three grandchildren and thirty-eight great-grandchildren, all of whom have had the pleasure and honor of being with her and knowing her.
Visitation: Friday, December 8, from 12:00 until 1:30, Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Avenue. Graveside service will follow at 1:30 pm.
Her life was full of marriage, children, church, and gatherings of friends. A member since 1949 of First Baptist Church, she served in many capacities there, chief among them leader of children's choirs, soloist and member of the Chancel Choir, president of the Women's Missionary Union, director of Girls' Auxiliary, and—most importantly—Sunday School teacher until the day her eyesight no longer allowed her to study.
Lois Sandusky was born in Houston, Mississippi, where her father Dr. Van Buren Philpot, who owned the hospital, served as the only surgeon in North Mississippi at the time and where her mother, Lois Atkinson Philpot, demonstrated creativity through growing flowers and taking care of her friends with generous and beautiful parties. Her three siblings, Marjorie Taylor, Grace Nelson, and Dr. Van Buren Philpot, Jr., have already gone before her.
After attending Blue Mountain College, Lois transferred to Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) where she majored in music.. She still has lifelong friends from that time, when she was a member of Chi Omega. It was while she was in Memphis in college that she met her husband, Dr. Walter Cooper Sandusky, Jr., who was studying orthodontics at the University of Tennessee. Before marrying him in 1948 she graduated from Southwestern and attended Westminster Choir School in Princeton, New Jersey.
If there is a discernible theme in her life, it is her enjoyment of others. All of her expendable time (during and after the nurturing of seven children) went into gathering people. She gathered them for the purpose of service—the church work, the accompanying of her husband on medical missionary tours, Le Bonheur service club, dental auxiliary. She gathered them for the purpose of fun—Garden Club, The Sewing Circle, various tennis groups. A proud time for all her children was when she volunteered during the AIDS crisis to provide food and transportation to sick men through the agency RAIN after the death of her close friend's son.
Lois Sandusky had lifelong friends —from Camp Kittiwake, Tupelo High School, Blue Mountain College, Southwestern University, First Baptist, and The Village at Germantown—whom she retained and deeply enjoyed throughout her life. Her life refrain was close-to-the-heart friendship.
Her life in the last 10 years was at The Village at Germantown where she lived with Walter Cooper until his death in 2016 and afterward in the company of close friends whom she developed there. Her children tried to list the friends, but there are too, too many. In the last few years of her life she organized a Hand and Foot Canasta Club and a Rummikub Hour. She also volunteered at a local elementary school where she tutored disadvantaged children in reading. She was steadfast in her devotion throughout her life, so steadfast that her brother-in-law, the Baptist minister Dotson Nelson, said a very long time ago that when she died they should sing the spiritual "Here's One." "Talk about a child who does love Jesus, Here's one. Talk about a child who's been forgiven, Here's one."
Seven children are left behind to remember her—Lois Sandusky, Libba Davis (Dick), Dale Sandusky (Michael DeCorte), Dr. Cooper Sandusky, III (Mona), Grace McLaren (James), Marie Sandusky (Elizabeth Black), and John Sandusky (Donna). Also bereft are twenty-three grandchildren and thirty-eight great-grandchildren, all of whom have had the pleasure and honor of being with her and knowing her.
Visitation: Friday, December 8, from 12:00 until 1:30, Memorial Park Funeral Home, 5668 Poplar Avenue. Graveside service will follow at 1:30 pm.
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