Mrs. Annis Virginia Sanders Conway, 85, passed away holding her daughter’s hand on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at High Point Regional Health System. She will return to her home in Arkansas and rejoin her beloved husband, Thomas F. Conway, who preceded her in death in 2004, at a graveside service at the Arkansas Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 24. Family will receive friends after the ceremony at a location to be announced. Visitation will be held at J. A. Funk Funeral Home in Malvern, 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23. Plans for memorial services in Hartwell, Ga., and High Point, N.C. are incomplete at this time.
Mrs. Conway was born in Hartwell, on Sept. 14, 1923 to Emory and Texie Sanders. The oldest of seven children, she is preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 52 years, two brothers, Emmett Sanders and Everett Sanders and two brothers-in-law, Ron Ziegler and Winfred Thomason.
Mrs. Conway was a devoted wife and mother to her twins. She lived for 15 years in Ft. Bragg, N.C. while her husband was in active service with the U. S. Army Special Forces Group. She then lived in Arkadelphia, for 33 years, gardening and supporting Tom in his many endeavors, which included starting the Henderson State University aeronautics program, commercial aviation, boating, and ham radio operation. She was an active parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Arkadelphia. She and Tom enjoyed traveling in their RV throughout the United States. Following her husband’s death, Mrs. Conway moved to High Point, N.C. in 2005 to be close to her daughter and lived at Skeet Club Manor. She enjoyed being with her family most of all and was a generous and loving spirit to all who met her. She never met a stranger and accepted everyone for who he or she was.
Mrs. Conway is survived by her twin children, Kevin Conway and Kathy Conway Baber, her son-in-law Hayes Baber; her brother and his wife Alton and Sybil Sanders; two sisters, Kitty Thomason and Faye Ziegler; brother-in-law and his wife Bill and Helen Conway; and sister-in-law, Hazel Sanders. Also surviving Mrs. Conway are six grandchildren: Jimmy Fraser, Sissy Pierce, Tina King, Jessica Olsen, Eli Conway, and T. J. Baber. Great-grandchildren include David, Savannah and Isabella King; Ben, McKenna and Landon Olsen; Kolby and Kennedy Conway; Kinsley and Kaylin Fraser; and Brittany, Julie Ann, and D.J. Pierce. She is also survived by numerous other relatives in and around Hartwell.
The family would like to express sincere appreciation to the staff at Skeet Club Manor for their loving care of Mrs. Conway as well as to the staff at High Point Regional Hospital for their compassion at the time of her death.
Flowers may be sent through J. A. Funk Funeral Home in Malvern or memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Online condolences may be sent via jafunkfuneralhome.com.
High Point, N.C. —
