Edward Bryan Sanders

With profound sadness, we announce the passing of our beloved father and grandfather, Edward Sanders, age 84. He passed away peacefully February 17, 2025, with family by his side.
Edward was born and raised in the coastal farming and fishing community of Stump Sound in Holly Ridge, North Carolina, during the World War II boom years, when Camp Davis brought rapid growth and transformation to the area. Over the course of his life, he witnessed nine decades of change, watching his beloved home evolve from dirt roads, tobacco farms and tight-knit fishing villages, to a wartime boomtown and into the retirement and beach destination that it is today.
In 1958 Edward graduated from Dixon High School, then attended Miller Motte Business College in Wilmington, N.C. where he earned an Associate's degree in Business Administration. With just one suitcase and a paper bag lunch lovingly prepared by his mother, Edward boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Washington D.C. He left behind his beloved life in Eastern North Carolina to pursue new career opportunities in the nation's capital.
Under the administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, Edward worked in the fingerprinting department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, then led by Director J. Edgar Hoover. After just 18 months in Washington, Edward met the love of his life, Betty Banton. In 1962 they were married and in time, they welcomed their first daughter. With a family of their own, Edward and Betty felt the call of Eastern North Carolina tugging at their hearts, drawing them back to familiar rhythms and cherished roots. Edward and Betty made Holly Ridge, N.C. home, where they welcome their second daughter.
After relocating back to N.C., Edward worked for Corning Glass Works in Wilmington, N.C. Edward was instrumental in the evolution and retooling of Corning's manufacturing processes from the production of transistors for electronics to ground-breaking, low-loss fiber optics, which laid the foundation for modern high-speed digital communication networks that ushered in the digital age. Edward led and trained many teams and mentored several individuals who still consider him a "work dad". He retired with 30 years of dedicated service, having contributed to some of Corning's most transformative technological advancements.
After retiring from Corning, Edward returned to the call of the ancestral soil. All of his life, he had tended what he humbly called a 'small garden' – though it was large enough to feed most families on Tar Landing Road. In retirement, he and Betty leveled up that passion into an agribusiness, that included landscaping and farming vegetables in the rich, loamy soil that generations before them had worked and cherished. Ed and Betty were active vendors at the local farmers markets, where their produce became community staples. They also volunteered with the Onslow County Agricultural Extension Service, sharing their knowledge as certified Master Gardeners and inspiring others to cultivate both land and community.
Edward was a master of both the soil and sea. For him, a day well spent ended with dirt under his nails from working the farm or salt on his skin from fishing in Stump Sound. While raising his young family, he supplemented Christmas celebrations and vacation funds by harvesting and selling oysters and clams from Stump Sound. The freezer was always stocked with shrimp, flounder, and homegrown vegetables for hearty family dinners. Long before the "farm-to-table" movement became trendy, Ed and Betty were living it- growing, catching, and sharing real food, the slow and honest way.
In July 2024, Edward lost the love of his life, Betty. Everyone that knows Ed Sanders knows, as the Southern saying goes, he was "as tough as a lightered knot." Like the resin in a lightered knot binds and strengthens, it was Betty's love that gave Ed his strength and resilience. On a clear, bright February day- one where the hope of a spring garden lingered in the salty, cool air drifting in from the Atlantic, and the bright blue Carolina sky stretched wide above- Edward made his way home to be with his beloved Betty once again.
Edward is predeceased by his parents, Roy E. Sanders and Gertrude Hobbs Sanders, wife Betty J. Sanders, sister Lena Sanders Ritter, brother-in-law Graham Ritter, and many beloved dogs, including Blackie, Coke, Marmaduke, Bear, Rufus, Max, Chester, and Misty.
Edward is survived by two daughters: Sheila Sanders Holland (Kenneth) and Tina Sanders-Hill (Richard), grandchildren: Katie Holland Smith (Dallas), Henry Hill, and Susannah Hill.
Please join our family in honoring the lives of Edward and Betty Sanders by attending a Celebration of Life Visitation on Saturday, May 17, 2025 from 2 pm to 4 pm at Jones Funeral Home, 207 N Dyson St, Holly Ridge, N.C. 28445.