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Mary Anita Courtade Sanders

In lieu of flowers, family and friends of Mary Anita Courtade Sanders who prefer to provide a memorial contribution may do so. The family will use these to honor Mary Anita Courtade Sanders's life and memory. Please continue to keep the family in your thoughts throughout this challenging time.

Mary Anita “Putsy” Courtade Sanders, age 102, passed away peacefully in her sleep on April 30, 2026, in Baton Rouge LA. Her childhood and early adulthood were spent in Brusly LA. Anita was a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and aunt.
Trained as a secretary, Anita spent the WWII years working for the War Manpower Commission in Baton Rouge. Among her first acquisitions with a paycheck were a 22 rifle and a fur coat for herself, and a gas stove for her mother. She met the love of her life at a dance (oddly, neither were particularly good dancers, and Anita often reminisced that they just, “got in everyone else’s way” on the dance floor). She and that dance partner, Davis (Dave) Sanders, married and had 72 happy years together, raising 3 children.
Anita was a typical 1950’s – 1960’s stay-at-home wife, raising kids and taking care of the domestic chores. Once empty nesters, she and Dave enjoyed traveling the globe. Europe, Australia, Costa Rica, southwestern US, and Alaska were favorite destinations. They also lived in Saudi Arabia during one of Dave’s engineering assignments. Visiting Petra in Jordan was a highlight of their time in the Middle East. Birding was also a hobby she and Dave shared in their retirement years, with several trips being planned around nature destinations for that purpose. Anita loved playing games, especially Scrabble, and was quite competitive.
She is survived by her 3 children: Jean Sanders Parnell (Tommy), Linda Sanders Sanders, and Randal Davis Sanders (Sandy); and sister, Corrine Courtade Daigle. She will also be remembered by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. During the decades spent living in North Baton Rouge, Anita was a devoted member of St. Isidore Catholic Church.
Anita was preceded in death by her parents, Louis J Courtade and Wilma Landry Courtade; her husband Davis A Sanders Jr; a grandchild, Shannon Daniel Lambert; son-in-law, Marc A Sanders; and brothers, James C Courtade, Louis J Courtade, and Berkeley J Courtade.

Services will take place on Friday, May 8, 2026, at St John the Baptist Catholic Church, 402 S Kirkland St, Brusly LA 70719. Visitation will be from 9:00am – 10:30am, with a Mass beginning 10:30am. Interment will follow in the church Mausoleum. Pallbearers will be Johua Bihm, Danny Daigle, Doren Daigle, Tommy Parnell, Ron Perrault, and Stone West.
Special thanks to the staff at Garden View Assisted Living for their kindness over the last 3 years, and the Audubon Hospice caregivers. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Anita’s memory to the Facial Pain Research Foundation to further research toward a cure for Trigeminal Neuralgia.