Sandra Riley Barnett
Sandra Riley Barnett passed away on Oct. 31, 2023.
She was born July 9, 1938, in Corsicana to Nat Daviss Riley and Eugenia Cosson Riley, their only child. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Gene Barnett, and is survived by her daughter Leigh Barnett Miller, son Charles Christopher Barnett, son in-law Rev. Mitchell Miller, daughter in-law Persephone Meredith Barnett, and five grandchildren: Nathan Miller, Emma Miller, Jackson Barnett, Lorelei Barnett and Matthew Barnett.
The Magnolia Oil Pretty Baby of 1938, Sandra lived as a child in Deleon, Paris and Teague, eventually graduating from Teague High School in 1955. Prior to graduation, she was chosen football sweetheart of the 1954 Teague Lions team, sang in the high school choir, was president of the Lions Marching Band (where she was a percussionist), and served as the art editor for the school’s yearbook, The AERIAL.
Sandra also was an accomplished pianist and played the organ at church (much to her adoring mother’s delight). She later attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, pledged Alpha Delta Phi sorority, and subsequently graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
After school, she worked as legal secretary for the U.S. Department of Justice, where she met Charles, the love of her life, who was working as an attorney with the Department. They married on Dec. 21, 1963, in Teague, and initially both lived and worked in New York City from 196366.
They then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where Leigh was born in 1969. Soon thereafter, they moved back home to Texas, where Charles continued working as an attorney while Sandra continued to dedicate herself to raising her children, with Christopher joining the family in 1976.
Sandra was a beautiful, cheerful, loving and devoted mother, grandmother, wife and friend, who was loved by everyone lucky enough to have met her.
There will be a graveside service at Driver Cemetery, Teague, on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, at 11 a.m.
Please visit our website at www.bowersfuneralhome. net to sign the memorial guestbook or to leave a message for the family.