Sarah L. Burney
August 2, 2007

Sarah Lenora Rodgers-Burney, the daughter of William Ceicero Harrison Cooper and Martha Elenora (Craven) Cooper, was born on April 21, 1916 in Lexington, North Carolina. She grew up in the Lexington area where she attended school.
Sarah married Raymond Cecil Rodgers on July 28, 1934 in Lexington and their marriage was blessed with four children, Raymond, Joan, Hazel, and Bobby. While Cecil worked in the furniture factory, Sarah enjoyed her role as a housewife and mother and loved gardening. They had been married 41 years when Cecil died on July 27, 1975.
Sarah moved from her home in Lexington to a retirement center in Wilmington, North Carolina. She joined the Moose Lodge where Sarah loved to attend dances and was a member of the Sweet Adeline's, a female singing group. Sarah and Harold M. Burney were married in Wilmington in 1982. They moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1986 to be closer to Sarah's grandchildren, whom she had raised following the death of her daughter Joan. She loved a great adventure and Sarah considered "moving to Iowa" to be just that. Harold and Sarah had been married 13 years when Harold died on July 20, 1995.
In 1997, she moved to the Glen Haven Home in Glenwood, Iowa. Sarah was a great practical jokester and with her good sense of humor, great laugh and southern drawl, she quickly became one of the favorite residents among the Glen Haven staff.
Sarah lived at Glen Haven for ten years when she died at the Jennie Edmundson Memorial Hospital in Council Bluffs on August 2, 2007. She had attained the age of 91 years, 3 months, and 11 days. Sarah was preceded in death by her parents; husbands Raymond C. "Cecil" Rodgers and Harold M. Burney; daughter Sylvia Joan Coover-Grimes; infant twin children; and a great granddaughter.
Sarah is survived by her sons Raymond Rodgers, Jr. and Bobby Rodgers, daughter Hazel Doby, all of North Carolina; eight grandchildren including Jon and his wife LaDonna (Schoening) Coover of Silver City, IA, Cynthia Sayles and her husband Thomas of Council Bluffs, and Patrick Coover of Gulf Port, MS; ten great grandchildren; one great great grandchild; nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends

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