Lilly "Blanche"
(Miner) Sanner
(1915-1976)
Lilly
"Blanche" (Miner) Sanner was born on Aug. 11, 1915 near Kingwood, Somerset
County, PA, the daughter of Harry D. and
Amanda (Burkett) Miner.
Blanche grew up on her parents’ farm in the Kingwood area. Living nearby were her grandparents, Ephraim and Rosetta (Harbaugh) Miner, and great-grandmother, Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh, all of whom she would have grown up knowing.
The
photo seen at right shows young Blanche
with her grandmother Miner (at right) and great-aunt, Lucinda
(Harbaugh) Younkin-Johnson (at left).
On Oct. 21, 1933, at the age of 18, Blanche married Earl Wilbur "Berkey" Sanner (1909-1975). He was the son of Peter and Minnie (McCulley) Sanner.
They had four children – Henrietta Pauline "Shirley" King, Thelma Grace Gross, Rachel Driver-Townson and David W. Sanner.
The Sanners resided on a 286-acre farm south of Kingwood. Berkey worked for the railroad. Blanche was a member of the Kingwood Church of God and the Rebekah Lodge of Kingwood.
There
was a 12-year difference in age between Blanche and her younger brother Earl
David Miner. He is seen here with Blanche's daughters Shirley (right) and
Thelma, circa 1937.
Over the years, Blanche maintained friendships with her out-of-town cousins Warren D. Younkin in Connellsville, PA and Agnes (Stoner) Wood in Illinois.
As she needed wisdom to face life’s difficulties, Blanche often confided in her father. "I just think if I could only talk a half hour to my daddy I would be OK," she wrote in later years. "I was so close to him always. I loved my mother but I could always go to my daddy with my troubles and he understood me so much."
Blanche
and her parents and brother Earl are seen at right together in June 1951.
She would have been age 36 at the time.
Berkey passed away at home of lung cancer on May 9, 1975. He was buried at the Kingwood IOOF Cemetery.
Alone in widowhood, Blanche enjoyed writing to relatives. In a letter to cousin Agnes Wood, she wrote:
I still tell everyone I could move a mountain if I could only lift the thing. I do charity work as much as I can…. I’ve been going out having some fun with my grandchildren, they seem very proud of me being able to dance and carry on with them. I went out New Years night for the first time in my life. I sure did have fun at my saur kraut and pork after midnight.
Blanche suffered from cancer for 10 years, and passed away on Aug. 5, 1976. She was laid to rest beside her husband at the Kingwood IOOF Cemetery, near the graves of her parents and grandparents, Ephraim and Rosetta Miner. At the time of her death, she had 13 living grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Daughter Shirley Sanner married Roy Milton King (1931-2002). They had six children. Roy "was a retired employee with 30 years of service of Keystone Lime in Springs," said the Somerset (PA) Daily American. "He was a member of the Appalachian Wagon Train Association, the Horse and Mule Association, and a former member of the Wheelers and Dealers Square Dance Club. He was a former Black Township supervisor and a volunteer worker at the New Centerville Firemen’s Farmers’ and Threshermen’s Jubilee."
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| Roy M. King surveys cleanup of extensive 1998 tornado damage at his home near Rockwood in April 1999 |
Daughter Thelma Sanner (1936-2002) married Charles William Gross. They had four children. Said the Daily American, she "was the former owner of ‘G.Y. Not Ceramics.’ She was a past president of the Middlecreek Ladies Golf League."
Many members of this branch have helped with children's games and prizes at our national family reunion the past several years. For more information, contact granddaughter Wendy (King) Zeller.
Copyright © 2004, 2008 Mark A. Miner