Sandra Elizabeth Sandifer Gunn

Sandra Elizabeth Sandifer Gunn, 90 years old, saw her Savior face to face on Monday, December 8, 2025. She was a resident of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Sandra was born August 21, 1935, in Tylertown, Mississippi. She graduated from Topeka-Tilton High School in 1953 and received a B. A. Degree in 1957 from her beloved Mississippi College. She is preceded in death by her mother Leslie Mae Roberts Sandifer, and her father James Dewitt (Cile) Sandifer. She is survived by the love of her life, her husband of 68 years, Frank Webb Gunn, Sr.; her three children Frank (Lydia) Gunn, Jr., Alicia (Jeff) Clark, and David (Gina) Gunn; her brother Mickey (Joyce) Sandifer; her grandchildren Mary Lindsay (Slater) Jackson, Frank Gunn III, and Annalise (fiancé Blake Stephan) Gunn; BethAnne (Tyler) Mitchell, Hunter (Micha) Clark, and Lynley (Ty) Park; and Jordyn Gunn and Carey Gunn; as well as 7 great grandchildren who loved their “Gran”: Durango and Wyatt Jackson; Hudson and Grace Mitchell; and Benjamin, Addie, and Brody Clark; and several nieces, nephews and other loving family members and friends.

Sandra was a prayer warrior, known for praying for family, church family, friends, neighbors, and strangers! Speaking of strangers, she never met one – her genuine warmth was a true hallmark of her personality. She filled many journals with scripture, prayers for others, and evidence of a deep love for her Savior, Jesus Christ. To know her was to be loved by her. In her down time at home, Sandra created some beautiful cross stitch pieces, she loved a good crossword puzzle, and a large puzzle in progress was often out on the game table. Due to the generosity of the Eustice family, a cabin in the scenic mountains of Highlands, North Carolina, became Sandra and Frank’s favorite vacation spot, having traveled there over 44 consecutive years.

As a pastor’s wife for 68 years, she loved and served each congregation: Loranger Baptist Church, Loranger, LA; Georgetown Baptist Church, Georgetown, MS; First Baptist Church, Lexington, MS; Forest Baptist Church, Forest, MS; First Baptist Church, Biloxi, MS (where she enjoyed being a part of the handbell choir); and numerous churches across the state in the interim capacity. In retirement, she and Frank are members of Venture Church, Hattiesburg, MS. Sandra served Mississippi Baptists through denomination service in various capacities with the Mississippi Baptist Convention: Committee on Order of Business, Committee on Nominations, Resolutions Committee, Member of the Convention Board, and Member of the Executive Committee. She wrote Sunday School lessons for The Baptist Record and served as Prayer Coordinator for the Christian Women’s Job Corps in Hattiesburg.

The family would like to extend our gratitude to the staff at Bellevue Assisted Living where Sandra spent the last 9 months of her life, the Transitional Care Unit staff, Dr. Melanie Hall, Dr. Debbie Azar, and many others in the healthcare community that contributed to her well-being. A special thanks to Colanthia Armond, a dear caregiver to Sandra and Frank, and also to James Winstead and Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home for their care of Sandra on Monday when she passed away.

Friends are invited to join the family for visitation and services on Friday, December 12, 2025, at Venture Church, 4142 Lincoln Road, Hattiesburg, MS 39402. Visitation will be held from 9:30 until 10:50 AM. The Celebration of Life service will follow at 11:00 AM.

SERVICES WERE RECORDED. PLEASE VIEW THE SERVICE by clicking on the following link. Remembering Sandra Gunn

Following services, Sandra will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Prentiss Cemetery.

Riemann Family Funeral Home, Biloxi, is serving the family. Please sign the online guest book and share memories and photos at www.riemannfamily.com.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to The Sandra and Frank Gunn Scholarship Fund for Mississippi College Students, Mississippi Baptist Foundation, PO Box 530, Jackson, MS 39205, a cause dear to her heart.

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In 2021, Sandra penned a glimpse into her early life entitled “This is Me.” A phrase from the last paragraph truly sums up her life story: “God was in every detail!” She would want each of you to know that God wants to be in every detail of your life story, too.

This is Me!

I grew up in the Topeka Community...about 35 miles from McComb, 25 from Tylertown, 20 or so from Brookhaven and 12 from Monticello. My grandfather Sandifer had the only grocery/gas station in that area! It was so typical of other communities with only one business. At one time, my Paw-paw Sandifer had a barbershop on one side, a long storage part on the other side, a grist-mill where people brought their corn to be ground into cornmeal. He also had a Cotton Gin right by the store, and a big building to hold the cotton seed. There were two churches within walking distance from us….Topeka Baptist Church and Topeka Methodist Church. Across the gravel road was our school. My Paw-paw and Maw-maw built their house across from the store, and mother and dad built their house next to them. My grandparents had lived in the area joined to the store in the back. My own family had lived down the road, in walking distance of the store, in a small house with an outdoor toilet! I was 3 years old when they had our house built. At some point, Mother and Daddy (D. J. and Leslie Mae Sandifer) left that community and moved to Poplarville---later Mother told me that we almost starved. How it worked out, I don’t know, but the move to Poplarville ended and Daddy moved us back to Topeka---where, from then on, he helped Paw-paw at the store. At one time, Daddy ran a sawmill not far down a lane from the store.

The Topeka Baptist Church was built in 1938, when I was 3 years old, and we all attended that church. My brother, Mickey Sandifer, was a few years younger than me. I can remember standing at our front door, watching with more curiosity than horror, the old gymnasium burn down! From that point on, the basketball team had to play on a dirt court.

When I graduated from the 8th grade, I remember Mother coming to me and very seriously asked me if she could work it out with daddy’s sister (aunt Eloine and uncle Buck) and would I be willing to live with the Buckley’s in Prentiss, MS, which was about 35 miles away? I didn’t even ask her why? That was a huge situation in my life! I still to this day, at 86 years old, do not know the reasons. I said yes with no questions asked! So, for the next three years, I did that. I loved having new friends, loved aunt Eloine so much and their children, Lynda Lou and Joe…both younger than me!

While In Prentiss, I went to the Prentiss Baptist Church and our pastor was Dr. L. E. Green. It was his daughter that became my best friend---Helen Green. I would spend the night with her numerous times and, one day, she asked me if I could go with her to spend the weekend at Mississippi College, our Baptist College in Clinton? The reason was both of Helen’s older sisters were in school there. We did, and in just that little bit of time, I fell in love with that school! At the end of my 11th grade, that summer (I always went back to Topeka for the summer) Mother sat me down and asked if I would consider coming back home and finishing my high school years there? That was a little harder for me, but I knew Mother wanted me home for my last year. She had planned for me to go to Copiah-Lincoln, a two-year college. But, again, I said yes. There were a lot of familiar faces---my old classmates. I did well that last year and I didn’t regret it at all. I was back home, but what that three years in Prentiss took away was my connection to my brother. Three years apart was a huge gap for us!

THEN! I went to Mother and told her I really wanted to go to Mississippi College! She immediately said it was a private school (Baptist), and they could not afford to send me. I kept on, and on, and finally Mother said the only way would be for me to get a job on campus and borrow money through a student loan. I don’t remember all the details, but I know I got a job for a professor in the School of Business…grading papers etc. One day, I came across a name that I had never seen before…Dow Jones. I asked the professor about him and that was a huge embarrassing moment for me as he doubled over with laughter. I really had never heard that name as my growing up years were so limited.

It is possible that Frank and I met in Prentiss as he would visit his relatives there on many occasions. We think it was during our freshman year at Mississippi College. He was from Indianola, up in the Delta, and had planned on attending Mississippi State. In May of 1953, while working for the Mississippi Highway Department, he was involved in an accident that could easily have taken his life. From that experience, he felt God calling him into ministry and he immediately canceled his reservation at State and enrolled at Mississippi College for the fall semester of 1953. We really didn’t date much at all. I just knew who he was as we had some classes together. He was in the Chorale Choir under Professor Pop Elsey and I joined the other choir, the Mississippi College Singers under Miss Julia Guess. We did share a lot of the same friends.

It was after we graduated mid-year that I went to the Mississippi School for the Blind (it was located south of Meadowbrook Road and east of I-55 in north Jackson) and I began the first kindergarten there. Did I know what I was doing? NO! I had majored in Elementary Education, but that did not help me with blind children! My friend, Marveen Moody, from Louisville, MS, applied for the 3rd grade there, so we roomed together in the girls’ dorm. Then, Frank called me out of the blue to go with him to the Mississippi College BSU Banquet on campus!!! Things really picked up speed and we were engaged by May and married in August. And yes, we paid off the entire Mississippi College student loan at the rate of $20.00 per month.

I have to tell all this because we know our God was in every detail of our story!!! There would have been no story much at all, but for God, orchestrating it all! Again, just like my response to my mother when she approached me about going to school in Prentiss, I said “YES” to Frank Gunn.