Sarah D. Saunders

Sarah Field DuPree Saunders passed away Oct. 7, 2016 at 7:17 AM at Brighton Gardens of
Dunwoody Assisted Living and Alzheimer's Care in Dunwoody, Georgia as a result of
complications of Alzheimer's Disease. She was ninety years young at the time of her passing
and was being attended by the very able and compassionate staff of the facility.
Sarah Field was born in Dillon, South Carolina on Saturday afternoon, July 3, 1926. She
was the thirteenth and final child of Mitchell and Hagar Jane DuPree. She was raised on a farm
and as a child her favorite stories were Baby Ray and Orphan Annie. She was a voracious
reader. Every Saturday she looked forward to going into town via horse drawn carriage and
every Sunday attending church with her twelve siblings and parents. She recalled as a child,
running into her bedroom and hiding under the bed when her great aunt started to tell horrific
stories of her life as a slave. She survived the injustices of the Jim Crow era with dignity and
grace.
Sarah graduated valedictorian from Dillon Colored High School and then attended St.
Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree
with a concentration in business in 1946 and was a stenography and typing instructor at the
Washington Business Institute upon graduation.
She married her college sweetheart, Joseph C. Saunders on Sept. 15, 1946 and they had
two children, Linda Jo and John Roberts Saunders. After losing all of their possessions in a
devastating flood in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1963, they relocated to the Bronx, New York.
She left her employment as a bookkeeper at Charney's in Atlantic City, New Jersey and then
became employed as a bookkeeper at Zwicker Electrical Contractors in New York, New York
and remained there until her retirement in 1990. She then moved to Atlanta to be near her
daughter, Linda Jo Saunders of whom she was so proud when she was conferred the degree of
Doctor of Medicine.
She had remained active as a St. Augustine's College Alumnus until 2014. She was very
active in the lives of her grandchildren, Amelia and Naomi Bradley. In addition to helping to care
for them, she attended every Grandparents Day celebration at Greater Atlanta Christian School
for 16 years until 2014 and all of their school programs. She could be seen daily at the Iceforum
in Duluth cheering them on as they figureskated and at the Cooler in Alpharetta Georgia when
they competed in the yearly Atlanta Open Figureskating Competition.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Joseph Clemuel Saunders and her brothers
and sisters, Mollie, Corrie, Almeta, Clyde, Virginia, Lula Mae, Johnnie, Gertrude, Amanda,
Luleatha and Ruben.
She is survived by her daughter, Linda Jo Saunders, MD, son John Roberts Saunders,
Granddaughters Amelia Rose and Naomi Grace Bradley and Johnique Saunders, grandsons
John Joseph Saunders and Johann Saunders. She was also a proud great grandmother and
great great grandmother.
The Memorial Service will be held Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 at A.S. turner and Sons, 2773
N. Decatur Road, Decatur, Georgia 30033. Visitation will start at 1pm followed by the memorial
service at 2 pm.

Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033