Sheila Sanders

(From Housh-Goodwin Funeral Home)

In Loving Chaos: Aunt “Tequila Sheila” Sanders (1958–2025)

The world got a little more interesting on April 19, 2025, when Sheila Ann Sanders, age 66, finally ran out of lives (we think she had at least nine like her favorite cats Sambo and Skoon). Our hopes are that she passed peacefully at her home in Sarcoxie, Missouri.

Not long after being born on June 13, 1958, Sheila began raising eyebrows and hell. She graduated from Carthage High School in Carthage, Missouri in 1976. She moved to Colorado, not long after and began working for United Airlines. She moved back to her home state of Missouri in 1982.

A proud collector of glass chickens, ex-boyfriends, and anything else of little value, she lived by her own rules, which changed daily, and usually involved a fancy hat and cowboy boots. She never met a margarita she didn’t like or a honky tonk she could pass up. Sheila is survived by a cat (who has refused to comment), and a family who adored her despite (and because of) her complete disregard for normal behavior.

She leaves behind several nieces and nephews, as well as great nieces and nephews, who learned early on that if Aunt Sheila says “Let’s go on an adventure,” it probably would end in a late night, lots of laughs, and a great story.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Denver Franklin and Leota Louise Sanders (Shriver) of Willow Springs; her siblings, Herbert Dwain Sanders, Carolyn Kay Sanders, and Dale Dean Sanders; her sister-in-law Pamela Sue Sanders; her great niece Emma Claire Sanders; and her niece-in-law Becci Dawn Sanders.

She will be cremated “so she can be smoking hot one last time,” and her ashes will be placed next to her parents and two of her siblings by family and friends who will miss her dearly.

Per her request, no one is allowed to wear black to her celebration of life (which will come at a future time), unless it’s leather. Cowboy boots and your fanciest hat are recommended. Donations can be made to your local animal shelter on behalf of the cats or to your neighborhood liquor store in her memory.

Raise a glass (or five). Aunt Sheila wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Cremation arrangements are under the personal care of Housh-Goodwin Funeral Home in Sarcoxie, Missouri.