Sara Kirkpatrick Lemon Anderson

Mrs. Sara Kirkpatrick Lemon Anderson, 96, of Ocean Springs, MS, passed away peacefully at the home of her eldest daughter in Arlington, Texas, on March 3, 2007, surrounded by family. She had been ill since a few days after Christmas. Sara was evacuated from Ocean Springs to Arlington, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home of sixty years, built by her beloved husband, James McConnell (Mac) Anderson of Shearwater Pottery in the 1930's. She was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, on November 5, 1910, to James Kirkpatrick Lemon and Georgia Macintosh Lemon; and lived in Ocean Springs from early childhood. Sara and Mac, along with his brothers and their wives, Peter and Patricia Anderson and Walter and Agnes (Sissy) Anderson, became the foundation upon which Shearwater Pottery was built. She was the last of these six creative, hard working people; living and working closely together and still managing to appreciate each other and raise their offspring in a setting which fostered the creative arts in the entire community. Sara had lived through many hardships in her long life, but frequently declared herself incredibly fortunate to have found such a loving husband and good father for her children, and to have lived in a beautifully decorated, hand-made home filled with Mac's adored art work and surrounded by nature, which was so important to her. Early in her life her natural love of birds had been nurtured by 'Aunt Hazel', and Sara happily shared her passion with everyone whose life touched hers. Countless people have become avid bird watchers and environmentalists as a result. Sara was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 51 years; her cherished granddaughter, Anne Elizabeth Anderson; her siblings George Lemon, Margaret Lewis Lemon Halstead, James Kirkpatrick (J.K.) Lemon, Bliss Lemon Pinkerton, William Lemon, Elizabeth Lemon Roberts, and Kirk Lemon; her two brothers-in-law and their wives; and her parents. She is survived by her youngest daughter Adele Anderson Lawton and her husband, Tim; elder daughter Margaret Anderson Cockrell and her husband Bob; grandchildren, Sara, Sophia, John, and Michael Cockrell; granddaughter Amy and her husband Ricky Page; great-granddaughter, Bella Page; brother Fred Lemon; niece Bette Lynn Halstead Nersesian and husband John; great-niece, Sarah Halstead; and many, many more nieces and nephews, too many to name them all. We would like to thank Mrs. Dora Dale, beloved caregiver and friend; the home health nurses, aides, physical therapists and Outpatient Clinic personnel at the Ocean Springs Hospital and most especially the late Dr. Richard T. Furr, lifelong physician extraordinaire, without whose help Sara would never have lived to be 96 years old. We would also like to thank her granddaughter, Sophia; grandson-in-law, Ricky Page, and family friend, Catia; for caring for her and helping make it possible for her to be comfortable and feel welcome in an unfamiliar place after she moved so abruptly to Texas. Services will be in the Chapel of the First Presbyterian Church in Ocean Springs, on Friday, March 16, at 1:00 p.m. Burial at the graveside in Evergreen Cemetery will be at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests and would appreciate gifts in memory of Sara Anderson be made to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art JMcC Anderson Art Acquisition Fund, or a piece of his art donated in her memory. The Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.