A loving mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend to many Beulah Doris (Vaughan) Sanders-Henley, daughter of John Vaughan and Dena McIntosh-Vaughan, was born July 20, 1925 in Macomb, Missouri. She departed this life for her heavenly home on April 19, 2009 due to illness.
She married Loren Sanders in 1942 and to this union had four children: Eddie, Karen, Steve and Joann. She later married Buford Henley in 1969 and became a stepmother to Shirley and Calvin.
Beulah accepted Jesus as her Lord at the age of 17 and she especially enjoyed going to church for many years at the Rock Church and other local churches, and last attended at Gentry. Beulah enjoyed family gatherings, was very talented in tatting, knitting, crocheting and wood carving, and gave many of her beautiful things as gifts to others. She was an avid reader and a great storyteller. She worked many years at the shoe factory in Mansfield and Rawlings in Ava, and was a union steward. She was also a foster parent and worked at the library in Ava in her later years.
Beulah was preceded in death by her parents, John and Dena Vaughan; her second husband, Buford Henley; three sisters, Alma Loveall-Garrison, Blanche Willis and Freda Slocum; one brother, Lester Vaughan; one son, Steve Sanders; one grandson, Doug Henley-Conley; one step-grandson, Kevin Tidwell; and one step-granddaughter, Vicky Mann.
She is survived by three children, Eddie Sanders and wife Sharon, of Ava, Karen Conley and husband Bill, of Mtn. Grove, and Joann Welker and husband, Rod, of Ava; two stepchildren, Calvin Henley and wife, Sue, of Milam, Texas, and Shirley Mann of Joplin; nine grandchildren, Cindy Derritt of Lawrence, Kan., Greg Sanders of Olathe, Kan., Kitty Lane of Mtn. Grove, Joe Conley of Mtn. Grove, Tracey Faul of Oswego, N.Y., Kara Hodges of Peculiar, Kan., Paul Sanders of Las Vegas, Nev., Matt Welker, Seymour, and Erin Allen, Okmulgee, Okla.; one step-granddaughter, Charla Henley-Thompson, of Arlington, Texas; one step-grandson, Rick Mann, Springfield, and five great-grandchildren, Alissa Lane, Shanna Lane, Alexis Derritt, Abbie Faul and Matthew Sanders; and four great-step-grandsons and a host of relatives and friends.
Beulah was a loving mother, grandmother, aunt and a good friend to many. She will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by all of those who knew and loved her.
Services were Wednesday, April 22, at 3 p.m. at Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava, with burial following in the Ava Cemetery. Officiating was Rev. David Dodson.
On line condolences may be made to www.clinkingbeardfuneral home.com.
