Beloved Daughter, Wife, and Mother of Three, and a Community Mother of Many

Grace Jean Brown was born to Dorothy Mae Marie Martin Bunting and Thomas Lee Brown on January 15, 1941, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Her Dear Mother, Father, and Husband all transitioned and departed this earthly life within a ten-month period.

Grace spent her early years growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana. She spent a year in Detroit, Michigan with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She relocated to Kansas City, Missouri in 1949. She attended R.T Cole Elementary school and Manual High School. She was a member of the Majorette team.

It is said that Grace was a comely young woman with a Coca-Cola figure. She said our father would have her walk ahead of him so that he could enjoy the view. She was a fashionista back in the day; and being an only child of a seamstress, she always wore the latest styles.

During her time at Manual High School, Grace met and was courted by the man she would later marry. On June 23, 1957, Grace and Thomas E. Sanders, Jr. became husband and wife. They soon welcomed their first child in September of 1957. They welcomed two more children, a girl in January of 1960, and another son in December of 1961. The last child was a birthday gift to his dad as they both share the same birth date.

Grace loved and cared for her mother and children. She was affectionately known as the Community Mother. She was blessed to have a village, a community of family and friends who rallied behind her as she and her mother raised her family in the absence of the patriarch. A major challenge and sacrifice but God always made a way for her to provide for her family.

Grace was not one to pass judgement. People found her easy to engage in conversation. She could be rather rude and unapologetically mean-spirited towards you especially if anyone admonished her to ease up on smoking. It could result in her colorfully laced way of saying back off and leave her be! She even once remarked that her lungs were pink, and healthy even though she smoked, because she like William J. Clinton, Former President of the United States, didn't inhale.

She loved telling her children scary stories and singing about funny repetitive things. She did adventurous things with her children such as teaching them to sled downhill with abandon, how to ride a 10-speed bike, or how to swim. She was employed as an In Home Day Care Provider, Domestic Worker, and Package Handler.

Grace accepted Christ and was baptized in the late 60's. However, she converted from Baptist to Catholic in the late 70s. She was a member of St. Louis Parish on 59th and Swope Parkway.

She was able to travel within the continental United States, to the Hawaiian Islands, Canada, and take a cruise to the Bahamas.

Her health began to decline in the late 90s. She relocated to California twice. God has been mighty gracious to her. Even during Home Hospice Care, God extended His mercy and grace to His daughter. Her children, friends, and loved ones are ever grateful.

She was known to state funny quips like unruly hair being combed saying, "I don't want to go there, I don't want to go there, or "I see," said the blind man to the hole in the wall, another comical saying she was known to express, is a little bit of said person's gravy going all over her platter.

After battling a host of medical challenges for many years, God called His daughter home. He took her up yonder! It is ironic that she and her husband transitioned the day before and the day after super bowl games!  Our Mother is no longer in pain. Her spirit quietly and peacefully left her earthly body. Even though we are grieving we know that He blessed her to see 80 and 3 years! Amen.

Grace leaves to cherish her memory her three children, Thomas E. Sanders, III (Anita), Belinda M. Sanders, and Darryl C. Sanders (Mahausha); 21 grandchildren; 52 great grandchildren, and 19 great-great grandchildren; a great aunt, Jessie Mae Hopkins of Shreveport, Louisiana; 1 sister-in-law, Gloria Jean Jones of Philadelphia; a host of cousins, relatives, nieces, and nephews from her husband's sisters and brother.

Thoughtful care and services provided by E. S. Eley & Sons Funeral Chapel, Inc .