Sara S Shiell

Sara Sanders Shiell died on January 26, 2025. She was born on October 10, 1934, in Opp, Alabama, and was the second of five siblings. The family soon moved to Pensacola, eventually living on Main Street. A child of the Great Depression, Sara valued every dollar and took pride in working hard, tithing to the Lord, saving resources, and sharing generously. She opened her home to everyone, hosted family reunions, and was famous for her fried chicken, chicken pot pie, and lemonade pie. After her mother died, she organized Sanders Family Reunion charter bus tours nationwide with her brother Don.

Sara attended Hallmark School and graduated from Pensacola High School in 1952. She was named Pure Oil Company’s “Miss Firebird.” She professed her faith in Christ at the Waterfront Rescue Mission. 

She began her career with Sherrill Oil Company and was hired by Robert G. Shiell and Associates, an accounting firm, where she met her best friend Shirley Gainey and her late husband, David Montague Shiell. They married in 1970, joined First Baptist Church of Pensacola, and had one child, William David. 

After “Billy” was born, Sara completed her college degree. In 1975, Tom Cooper hired Sara to work in data processing at Baptist Hospital. When she retired, she was the hospital’s longest-serving employee. Sara was a “second mother” to multiple staff (and supervisors). Late in life, she continued to host parties for her office colleagues, affectionately known as the “Sherrill Oil Girls,” and maintained close relationships with her Baptist Hospital team, including Tom, the late “Vic” Bokas, Kathy Oswald, Debra Bunch, and Debbie Yaden.

As a member of First Baptist Church, Sara taught first-grade Sunday School for nearly forty years and shared the gospel with generations of young people. She was a devoted daughter, a faithful sister, a loving aunt, a fantastic mother, and a proud grandmother. “Memaw” traveled across the country to see Parker and Drake. In 2019, she moved to Illinois to be closer to family and was frequently spotted at high school swim meets. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Sara was preceded in death by her parents, Brantley and Zulema Morrow Sanders, husband David Montague Shiell, sister Margaret Burkett, brother-in-law H.T. Burkett, brother Don Sanders, and special brother-and-sister-in-law Robert and Hazel Shiell. 

She is survived by her son Bill and his wife Kelly, whom she loved like a daughter; two grandsons, Parker and Drake; two sisters and their husbands, Monette Tancredi (Peter) and Agatha Hankins (Gary); one sister-in-law, Merina Sanders; five nieces, five nephews, and many great nieces and nephews. 

The family will receive friends at Adolf-Powell Funeral Home, 7000 S Madison St,  Willowbrook, Illinois, on January 29 from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m., followed by a brief service at 7:00 p.m. 

The family will also receive friends at the Pleitz Chapel of First Baptist Church of Pensacola, on Sunday, February 2, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. A service will follow at 3:30 p.m. with Dr. Barry Howard officiating. Burial will be at Pensacola Memorial Gardens on Monday, February 3, at 10:00 a.m. 

Instead of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Lift Center of Christ Church of Oak Brook, Illinois, the Music Ministry of First Baptist Church of Pensacola, or the Baptist Healthcare Foundation of Pensacola.

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