Elizabeth Eleanor (Headley) Sanderson

Elizabeth Eleanor (Headley) Sanderson

“Bette”

Bette passed away peacefully in her home at the age of 95 ¾.  She did not want to see 100 because then, she said, she would be “old”.

Bette was born in Milltown, NJ in 1923.

Bette married Martin F. Sanderson, Jr. in 1943 who was at the time, serving in the U.S. Army during WWII and celebrated 61 years together.

She and her husband moved to Morris Plains, NJ after the war. Together they raised one daughter.   Bette volunteered in the church office of the Presbyterian Church of Morris Plains and was the secretary for the church’s nursery school. She was known for her sense of humor by occasionally putting M&M’s in the church offertory envelopes.

She had a passion for knitting and cross stitching.  Her favorite foods included: chocolate chip cookies, crumb buns, lima beans and NJ tomatoes.  Her biggest passion of all, was chocolate.  She always told people it was her legacy in her high school yearbook.

After her first retirement, as she called it, they moved to Toms River, NJ.  When her husband passed away in 2004, Julie, who, at the time, lived in Massachusetts, told her she was moving “up north”.  She lived on her own until age 90 and then finally gave up her driver’s license and moved in with her daughter, where she remained until the end. (Her second retirement.)

Bette is survived by her daughter, Julie Villani, Westfield, MA; her granddaughter, Elizabeth Stansky, Huntington, MA; her great-granddaughter, Abigail; and many nieces and nephews.  She was pre-deceased by her husband; her sister, Gwen Eager, her brother, Robert Headley, and her grandson, Alex Stansky.

In accordance with her wishes cremation will take place. There are no calling hours, a private burial will be held at the convenience of the family. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Edwards Memorial Funeral Home, 44 Congress Street, Milford MA. Please visit www.edwardsmemorialfuneralhome.com for obituary & condolence book.

  In lieu of flowers, if you wish to honor her memory, enjoy a bar of Dove dark chocolate.

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