JoEllyn Sanders, 75, passed away peacefully on January 9, 2017, surrounded by family. She was born April 13, 1941 to Joe and Phyllis Wright and raised on a farm near Manchester, OK.

After graduating from Oklahoma City Business College, she married and moved to Long Beach, CA, where she had 3 of her 4 children. In 1973, the family settled in Little Rock and, after raising her children (and some of their friends), she spent 20 years with the Arkansas Bankers Association.

She "retired" in 2004 to Bull Shoals, AR, but was soon bored with the "good life" and returned to work for several years with the city. She retired again in 2013 and filled her time with family visits, trips to the farm in OK and assisting those in need in the Bull Shoals community.

As a beloved mother, sister, daughter or friend, she was fiercely loyal and protective of those close to her but also had a soft side that was bestowed graciously on those in need.

She was preceded in death by her father, Joseph Wright, and leaves many cherished memories with her mother, Phyllis Wright; brother, William (Jo Ann) Wright; sister, Mary Collins; children: Doug (Kimberlee), Michelle (John), Steve (Dawn) and Kathy Sanders; grandchildren: Casen and Emilee Sanders; Jacob and Olivia Bice; Carson and Ava Sanders; Layne Foster, Chance May, Mason and Jasmine Cole; and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 16, 2017, at the St. Mary Assumption Catholic Church in Wakita, Oklahoma. Burial will follow at the St. Peter and Paul Cemetery south of Manchester.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bull Shoals Food Pantry, PO Box 691, Bull Shoals, AR 72619-0691, or to The Humane Society of North Central Arkansas, 2656 AR-201, Mountain Home, AR 72653.

A memorial service will be held at a later date in Bull Shoals, AR.

Prairie Rose Funeral Homes, 602 E. Main St., Anthony, KS 67003, is in charge of arrangements.